Austin Dillon sits just 15 points below the playoff cutline with three races remaining in the NASCAR Cup Series regular season.
That should be enough to make a competitor sweat without turning a lap in the summer heat, but Dillon remains cool as the postseason heat ramps up.
“I‘ve been pretty calm, really, about it,” Dillon said Tuesday morning. “I know the situation I‘m in. It‘s been unfortunate the amount of winners we‘ve had this year. I feel like we‘d be well in a safe place right now, but we‘re not. It‘s just the situation we‘re in and we‘re racing our teammate.”
There have been 13 different winners in 2021, but Dillon and his Richard Childress Racing teammate, Tyler Reddick, aren‘t on that list. Reddick sits right above the No. 3 Chevrolet driver with a hold on the final playoff position, 15 markers above the cutline.
The final two races of the regular season at Michigan International Speedway and Daytona International Speedway bode well for Dillon to earn a pair of strong finishes to point his way into the postseason, or even sneak a victory. Dillon finished eighth in the second Michigan race last season and third in this year‘s Daytona 500.
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Sunday‘s Cup Series race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course (1 p.m. ET, NBC, IMS Radio Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) is a different story, though. While Dillon has improved his road racing prowess, a 17th-place average finish on the first five road courses this year could be a cause for concern in an effort to collect maximum points.
But Dillon is hoping to reap the fruits of his labor on the simulator.
“But I‘m pretty confident after being on the sim at Indy,” Dillon said. “I usually don‘t pick up the road courses on the sim very fast, but for some reason Indy came to me pretty quick, which is good I think for what we‘re going into.”
While Sunday‘s race hangs in the balance, there are two things on Dillon‘s mind: a new season winner and starting position, given how much drivers will need to muscle their cars around Indy‘s flat, 14-turn, 2.439-mile infield surface for position.
“Putting a lot of focus on the qualifying and making sure we start up front and give ourselves the best way to get points because we have a 15-point gap right now and if we can maintain or gain a little this weekend, I feel like the next two weeks are very good tracks for us,” Dillon said.“We‘ll be in a pretty decent situation come Daytona if we‘re in the same situation … if it is a points game. Obviously, I‘d like to lock ourselves in with a win. Just don‘t want any new winners, that would really put us out.”