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At one point, Richard Childress Racing was on top of the NASCAR world with superstar driver Dale Earnhardt behind the wheel. These days, however, the legendary team has become a bit of an afterthought.
But current driver Austin Dillon, the grandson of team owner Richard Childress and the winner of Sunday’s Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway, is trying to change that.
Dillon, 35, is in his 12th season in the Cup Series, all of which have been spent racing for his grandfather’s team. He’s watched the team go from a powerhouse to the butt of several jokes, and now he’s had enough.
Austin Dillon Says Richard Childress Needs To Take Step Back In Role With Race Team
Last month, Childress called out his team after a disappointing race at Dover Speedway. Childress claimed that his team was “in trouble” and stated that they needed to start bringing better cars to the track each week.
Fast forward a month and RCR is still in trouble, but the pressure has eased after Dillon’s win. Still, he says he and brother Ty, who races for affiliate team Kaulig Racing, have had discussions with their grandfather about him stepping back from the team a bit.
Austin Dillon admits he and Richard Childress have had arguments about the direction of RCR. Dillon says those are frustrating and hard since Childress is his grandpa, “but there’s certain directions we’ve gotta go and move this boat forward.”
Dillon says he and brother Ty are… pic.twitter.com/VQtQQNzaal
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“We have knock-down, drag-outs between the two of us,” Dillon said of arguments between he and Childress.
“We get into arguments to the point of frustration. It’s very hard when he’s your grandfather to have an argument with him because you don’t want to argue about it. There’s certain directions we have to go to move this boat forward, right? I’m constantly pushing him. My brother has stepped in now and trying to help as well. Between the two of us, we want to try to take some of the load off of him as we go.”
Any racing fan who knows Childress also knows that the 80-year-old can be incredibly stubborn. Dillon says it can be difficult to change that.
“Yeah, but he’s very loyal to a fault, almost. He really takes great care of those that are around him. We just push him to try and make change at some point in time,” Dillon said. “He usually has a way about it when you tell him one thing, and he’s going to get upset about it. Then two weeks later, turn around, ‘What do you think about this?’ ‘That’s a great idea, man.’ I love that.”
Childress just wants his team to win. But in order for that to happen, he may need to take a step back sooner rather than later.