NASCAR CUP SERIES TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES MAY 1, 2026 |
Austin Dillon, driver of the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of running double duty in the NASCAR Cup and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series at Texas Motor Speedway. | MEDIA RESOURCES: Photo Gallery | Race AdvancesChevrolet Newsroom |
Media Availability Quotes: Austin, you won at this track back in 2020. How does it feel to be back here in Texas?“It feels really good. Texas (Motor Speedway) is a place that we’ve had some success at as a company. RCR has had some speed. We’ve been able to click off some good finishes. Also, getting to run the No. 3 Boot Barn Chevrolet in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series this weekend will be a lot of fun. I haven’t done that in a long time. I think the last time I ran a race here in that series was in 2017, so looking forward to that challenge. And then, just trying to progress on the Cup side and get some good finishes.” Would you consider this perhaps the most difficult of the 1.5-miles track because of the way the two different ends work?“Yeah, this place is definitely pretty difficult to find a balance between both ends. (Turns) one and two have become a pretty tricky corner for all series, but I think in the Cup series, when you cross the path of another car off of two, it seems to be pretty treacherous. Three and four is about a lane and a half wide because of the big bump there off of four, which is a pain. So, yeah, I mean, this place is difficult, for sure.” This is your first O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race of the year. Do you know how many you’re going to do? Are you going to hit the seven or how many ever you can do?“I don’t think so. I think I’ll probably do this one and maybe one other one. I’m not really sure… I don’t have a plan right now to run much more than one, I think. I think we have one more. I don’t know where it’s at, though.” I assume you know Andy Street pretty well, so I’m curious how you think that change on the No. 8 team will be and if it will have any impact on your program, as well? “I’m glad that Andy (Street) is staying on the Cup side. He has been in our meetings all year long with the No. 3 and the No. 8, and he’s brought the No. 33 to the track, so I’ve gotten to work with him more than I probably ever have. I ran one O’Reilly’s race last year with him as a crew chief, so he’s kind of been bouncing around doing a lot of different jobs. He was originally kind of the guy that we were going to look to for just working on the cars on the Cup side to make them better each and every week. I think he’s shown that his ability to work with Kyle (Busch) at the end of the year last year and have some solid runs, I think that’s what the obvious move was to make. I think it should be a positive tone for that team. What I like to see is when that team’s in there with us after practice and we’re all in there trying to move the needle forward.” With 10 races into the season, why was this the right time to make that swap?“Well, I think there’s no reason not to. They weren’t very performing, and I think everybody was looking at that. But I think Jim (Pohlman) also wanted to make a change. I think that there’s multiple reasons, but the obvious reason was that we had someone in-house that had some success with Kyle (Busch) at the end of last year and was willing to step up and do the job. I think it was something that Jim also wanted to do… whatever we needed to do as a company to run better, and if that’s moving Andy (Street) into that role, I hope that Jim stays and can be an asset to our company and help us make our cars better in another role than just being on the box on Sunday. What really moves the needle, truthfully, for all these teams is what gets done at the shop during the week. Jim has proven, over his long tenure in NASCAR, that he can build fast race cars.” Does he have a set role on the competition side right now?“I believe so. I don’t know what that title is, but I know that, yes, they want him in pretty much the role that Andy (Street) was previously in, so it’s almost like a swap.” From the outside, it doesn’t look like you guys have a ton of performance right now. You have obviously on your team maximized what you can, but what’s the mood inside the building? I mean, is there still optimism you guys can turn around this year? Is there panic? What does it feel like there?“There’s an urgency, for sure. You know, like one of the guys in the shop came to me this week and said — hey, dude, we’ll do whatever. We’ll stay late. We want to prove who we are as a company and who we’ve always been, which is that we battle and that we never give up. When you think we’re down, we’re going to pop off a win. We’re going to figure it out and that’s what great race teams do. I have all the confidence in the world that we can get to where we need to be. I’m proud of, like you said, we’re maximizing the capability of our cars from the No. 3 team side. We’ve got to get the No. 8 to do that, and then when we can both be doing that, hopefully the small things that we figure out will drop those finishes from 15th on a good day to eighth to 10th. And then, once you start running from eighth to fifth, I think it’s everybody’s game in these races, especially as long as they are; come down to a late race restart, and we can make it happen from there. Also, Kyle (Busch) had a good meeting with the entire shop floor at the beginning of the week. That was positive.” Kind of on a similar note, every organization has a different way that they feel like the driver’s role should be or every driver feels different about what their role should be in debriefs on Monday or Tuesday or whatever. But at RCR, what is the driver’s role in terms of, you guys aren’t the engineers, but you’re driving the car, so like in terms of feedback or directions, what are the things that you feel like are the most prudent for a driver to tell the engineer, crew chief, leadership about what the cars are doing, what you want them to do? “I think clear, concise information that sets us up for good finishes. As a driver, I have a feel that I’m looking for. If I can tell them what my car did or didn’t do and they can go back and try and build around that and build off of that, I think that’s what we’re trying to do with Chevrolet and with our engineers. We’re trying to get the cars to drive better where we can drive them hard and not feel like we’re on the edge. I mean, that’s the thing that we hear most often is that we’re on a razor-thin margin of adjustment. When my car is tight during a race and I go to free it up on the next run, I can’t drive it because I’m spinning out loose. That’s a hard place to be, so you’ve got to have margin of error, is what I like to call it. We have to have some comfort in there where I can go tight or loose and still drive it. That’s what we’re trying to find because then that makes it more comfortable to get out there, drive hard, make moves, and not be afraid to be like, okay, I’m a 14th place car… if I loosen up right here, I can move to the top-10. That’s what you’re looking for. You want to be able to make an adjustment and see it improve. It seems like with our cars, when we make an adjustment, we don’t make them improve from a handling standpoint.” We pretty much see you just race on Sunday’s. You’ve got a handful of O’Reilly races. You’ve done SRX. I don’t know when your last dirt late model start was. How much extracurricular racing would you like to do? Are there things that are on your bucket list forms of racing? Are there things that you want to pursue?“Right now, I mean, with the Cup Series and the O’Reilly races I get, I’m really happy that I get to run two this weekend. I think something cool would be those trophy trucks out there… they look pretty fun and exciting to drive. I’ve always loved dirt. You know, I miss Bristol on dirt. That was my one dirt race a year, but now I’m starting to miss it. I could definitely go out and run a dirt late model somewhere and probably have some fun. But, yeah, I’m pretty comfortable where I’m at right now; raising two kids, tee-ball, racing, PBR. A lot of stuff going on in my life. It’s good stuff, though.” How much is RCR using the GM Charlotte Technical Center, as well as the simulator at that facility? “We use it every week for our allotted time, Kyle (Busch) and I both. Kyle and I have both put in as much effort as ever, I feel like. I’ve been in there in years where I use my entire allotment of time. We’ve kind of approached it a little bit differently, where we split the session and then have another driver come in and correlate. We put a lot of effort into it, and we’re very thankful for the tools that Chevy has provided us. We’re trying to make them better each week. I think at times, we probably should listen to it more, and times we’re like, man, that wasn’t close. But, I mean, that’s sim in general, I feel like.” Last week, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. said he was in there after a race to try to set the parameters of where they need to be when they return to Kansas. I’m wondering, how much of that information gets shared among the Chevrolet partners? Also, if the fans are asking, why isn’t RCR and Trackhouse performing at the same level as the Hendricks-Spire coalition, what would you see as the biggest disparity?“From the key partner side of it, I think the feel of the room is that we’re all trying to work together to get everybody performing better. HMS has done a very good job, I feel like, of kind of leading the group of the three of us. I think the No. 3 team has been right there in the mix with some of the HMS cars. But all of us aren’t happy with where we’re at. We’ve got to be better, so I think working together is key. I can’t speak for Spire, they’re not a key partner team, but they’ve been successful this year, as well.” You mentioned Kyle addressed the shop. Can you share anything else as to what the nature of that message was, or what he said, or anything like that?“I think just that he’s all in. He wants to get back. I talked to Kyle (Busch), and his next win is going to be the biggest of his career, if you think of it the right way. All the stuff that has been said and brought up over this year, I feel like if he puts his head down and takes that team back to victory lane, that’s going to be the biggest win of his career. So, that’s what we’re all fighting for. We want to see that. As a competitor, that’s what I’d like to see.” You’re running a double this weekend in O’Reilly and Cup. What advantages do you think the extra track time will have for you?“I think just getting your eyes on the track; getting a feel of every bump and understanding how much you can arc. It’s just a fast start to the weekend, getting an extra couple laps on the track in practice.” On the O’Reilly side, it’s Ryan’s (Chism) first gig as a crew chief. What should I know about him? What do you know about him? What do you want us to know about him?“Ryan Chism has been a guy that’s been on our team for a long time now, as the car chief. He’s just head down; going to work, out work, competes in everything. He likes to compete in sports, in general. He’s of the most athletic guys at our shop. He’s also just a great competitor. He builds good racecars. Every time I strap in the car, I know that my car is going to stay together and he makes sure of that. It was his opportunity, and I’m glad they’re giving him that opportunity to show that we can build within our organization. This is a one-off, but I’d like to see him have more opportunities like this. He’s excited, I’m excited, and we want to go out there and run well with Boot Barn.” |
NASCAR CUP SERIESTEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAYTEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTESMAY 1, 2026 |
Austin Dillon, driver of the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of running double duty in the NASCAR Cup and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series at Texas Motor Speedway. | MEDIA RESOURCES: Photo Gallery | Race AdvancesChevrolet Newsroom |
Media Availability Quotes: Austin, you won at this track back in 2020. How does it feel to be back here in Texas?“It feels really good. Texas (Motor Speedway) is a place that we’ve had some success at as a company. RCR has had some speed. We’ve been able to click off some good finishes. Also, getting to run the No. 3 Boot Barn Chevrolet in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series this weekend will be a lot of fun. I haven’t done that in a long time. I think the last time I ran a race here in that series was in 2017, so looking forward to that challenge. And then, just trying to progress on the Cup side and get some good finishes.” Would you consider this perhaps the most difficult of the 1.5-miles track because of the way the two different ends work?“Yeah, this place is definitely pretty difficult to find a balance between both ends. (Turns) one and two have become a pretty tricky corner for all series, but I think in the Cup series, when you cross the path of another car off of two, it seems to be pretty treacherous. Three and four is about a lane and a half wide because of the big bump there off of four, which is a pain. So, yeah, I mean, this place is difficult, for sure.” This is your first O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race of the year. Do you know how many you’re going to do? Are you going to hit the seven or how many ever you can do?“I don’t think so. I think I’ll probably do this one and maybe one other one. I’m not really sure… I don’t have a plan right now to run much more than one, I think. I think we have one more. I don’t know where it’s at, though.” I assume you know Andy Street pretty well, so I’m curious how you think that change on the No. 8 team will be and if it will have any impact on your program, as well? “I’m glad that Andy (Street) is staying on the Cup side. He has been in our meetings all year long with the No. 3 and the No. 8, and he’s brought the No. 33 to the track, so I’ve gotten to work with him more than I probably ever have. I ran one O’Reilly’s race last year with him as a crew chief, so he’s kind of been bouncing around doing a lot of different jobs. He was originally kind of the guy that we were going to look to for just working on the cars on the Cup side to make them better each and every week. I think he’s shown that his ability to work with Kyle (Busch) at the end of the year last year and have some solid runs, I think that’s what the obvious move was to make. I think it should be a positive tone for that team. What I like to see is when that team’s in there with us after practice and we’re all in there trying to move the needle forward.” With 10 races into the season, why was this the right time to make that swap?“Well, I think there’s no reason not to. They weren’t very performing, and I think everybody was looking at that. But I think Jim (Pohlman) also wanted to make a change. I think that there’s multiple reasons, but the obvious reason was that we had someone in-house that had some success with Kyle (Busch) at the end of last year and was willing to step up and do the job. I think it was something that Jim also wanted to do… whatever we needed to do as a company to run better, and if that’s moving Andy (Street) into that role, I hope that Jim stays and can be an asset to our company and help us make our cars better in another role than just being on the box on Sunday. What really moves the needle, truthfully, for all these teams is what gets done at the shop during the week. Jim has proven, over his long tenure in NASCAR, that he can build fast race cars.” Does he have a set role on the competition side right now?“I believe so. I don’t know what that title is, but I know that, yes, they want him in pretty much the role that Andy (Street) was previously in, so it’s almost like a swap.” From the outside, it doesn’t look like you guys have a ton of performance right now. You have obviously on your team maximized what you can, but what’s the mood inside the building? I mean, is there still optimism you guys can turn around this year? Is there panic? What does it feel like there?“There’s an urgency, for sure. You know, like one of the guys in the shop came to me this week and said — hey, dude, we’ll do whatever. We’ll stay late. We want to prove who we are as a company and who we’ve always been, which is that we battle and that we never give up. When you think we’re down, we’re going to pop off a win. We’re going to figure it out and that’s what great race teams do. I have all the confidence in the world that we can get to where we need to be. I’m proud of, like you said, we’re maximizing the capability of our cars from the No. 3 team side. We’ve got to get the No. 8 to do that, and then when we can both be doing that, hopefully the small things that we figure out will drop those finishes from 15th on a good day to eighth to 10th. And then, once you start running from eighth to fifth, I think it’s everybody’s game in these races, especially as long as they are; come down to a late race restart, and we can make it happen from there. Also, Kyle (Busch) had a good meeting with the entire shop floor at the beginning of the week. That was positive.” Kind of on a similar note, every organization has a different way that they feel like the driver’s role should be or every driver feels different about what their role should be in debriefs on Monday or Tuesday or whatever. But at RCR, what is the driver’s role in terms of, you guys aren’t the engineers, but you’re driving the car, so like in terms of feedback or directions, what are the things that you feel like are the most prudent for a driver to tell the engineer, crew chief, leadership about what the cars are doing, what you want them to do? “I think clear, concise information that sets us up for good finishes. As a driver, I have a feel that I’m looking for. If I can tell them what my car did or didn’t do and they can go back and try and build around that and build off of that, I think that’s what we’re trying to do with Chevrolet and with our engineers. We’re trying to get the cars to drive better where we can drive them hard and not feel like we’re on the edge. I mean, that’s the thing that we hear most often is that we’re on a razor-thin margin of adjustment. When my car is tight during a race and I go to free it up on the next run, I can’t drive it because I’m spinning out loose. That’s a hard place to be, so you’ve got to have margin of error, is what I like to call it. We have to have some comfort in there where I can go tight or loose and still drive it. That’s what we’re trying to find because then that makes it more comfortable to get out there, drive hard, make moves, and not be afraid to be like, okay, I’m a 14th place car… if I loosen up right here, I can move to the top-10. That’s what you’re looking for. You want to be able to make an adjustment and see it improve. It seems like with our cars, when we make an adjustment, we don’t make them improve from a handling standpoint.” We pretty much see you just race on Sunday’s. You’ve got a handful of O’Reilly races. You’ve done SRX. I don’t know when your last dirt late model start was. How much extracurricular racing would you like to do? Are there things that are on your bucket list forms of racing? Are there things that you want to pursue?“Right now, I mean, with the Cup Series and the O’Reilly races I get, I’m really happy that I get to run two this weekend. I think something cool would be those trophy trucks out there… they look pretty fun and exciting to drive. I’ve always loved dirt. You know, I miss Bristol on dirt. That was my one dirt race a year, but now I’m starting to miss it. I could definitely go out and run a dirt late model somewhere and probably have some fun. But, yeah, I’m pretty comfortable where I’m at right now; raising two kids, tee-ball, racing, PBR. A lot of stuff going on in my life. It’s good stuff, though.” How much is RCR using the GM Charlotte Technical Center, as well as the simulator at that facility? “We use it every week for our allotted time, Kyle (Busch) and I both. Kyle and I have both put in as much effort as ever, I feel like. I’ve been in there in years where I use my entire allotment of time. We’ve kind of approached it a little bit differently, where we split the session and then have another driver come in and correlate. We put a lot of effort into it, and we’re very thankful for the tools that Chevy has provided us. We’re trying to make them better each week. I think at times, we probably should listen to it more, and times we’re like, man, that wasn’t close. But, I mean, that’s sim in general, I feel like.” Last week, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. said he was in there after a race to try to set the parameters of where they need to be when they return to Kansas. I’m wondering, how much of that information gets shared among the Chevrolet partners? Also, if the fans are asking, why isn’t RCR and Trackhouse performing at the same level as the Hendricks-Spire coalition, what would you see as the biggest disparity?“From the key partner side of it, I think the feel of the room is that we’re all trying to work together to get everybody performing better. HMS has done a very good job, I feel like, of kind of leading the group of the three of us. I think the No. 3 team has been right there in the mix with some of the HMS cars. But all of us aren’t happy with where we’re at. We’ve got to be better, so I think working together is key. I can’t speak for Spire, they’re not a key partner team, but they’ve been successful this year, as well.” You mentioned Kyle addressed the shop. Can you share anything else as to what the nature of that message was, or what he said, or anything like that?“I think just that he’s all in. He wants to get back. I talked to Kyle (Busch), and his next win is going to be the biggest of his career, if you think of it the right way. All the stuff that has been said and brought up over this year, I feel like if he puts his head down and takes that team back to victory lane, that’s going to be the biggest win of his career. So, that’s what we’re all fighting for. We want to see that. As a competitor, that’s what I’d like to see.” You’re running a double this weekend in O’Reilly and Cup. What advantages do you think the extra track time will have for you?“I think just getting your eyes on the track; getting a feel of every bump and understanding how much you can arc. It’s just a fast start to the weekend, getting an extra couple laps on the track in practice.” On the O’Reilly side, it’s Ryan’s (Chism) first gig as a crew chief. What should I know about him? What do you know about him? What do you want us to know about him?“Ryan Chism has been a guy that’s been on our team for a long time now, as the car chief. He’s just head down; going to work, out work, competes in everything. He likes to compete in sports, in general. He’s of the most athletic guys at our shop. He’s also just a great competitor. He builds good racecars. Every time I strap in the car, I know that my car is going to stay together and he makes sure of that. It was his opportunity, and I’m glad they’re giving him that opportunity to show that we can build within our organization. This is a one-off, but I’d like to see him have more opportunities like this. He’s excited, I’m excited, and we want to go out there and run well with Boot Barn.” |