Denny Hamlin feels some sympathy for what Austin Dillon has gone through on a week-to-week basis thus far in 2024.
Perhaps no driver has dealt with worse luck than the Richard Childress Racing wheelman through the first four races of NASCAR’s season. It seems like the No. 3 driver has been caught up in wrecks of someone else’s doing each time he gets to the track, and he hasn’t been able to truly compete.
After Dillon’s day was ruined by a wreck once again at Phoenix, Hamlin took some time on his latest Actions Detrimental podcast to elaborate on what the driver is going through, and whether Dillon’s luck can turn around in 2024.
“ARCA brakes. He had ARCA brakes,” Hamlin stated, regarding Dillon’s wreck. “Austin Dillon has had some crap luck. I love Austin. He’s a good person. Austin gets a lot of s—, because he’s racing for his grandfather. People think he’s silver spoon. Austin Dillon is a great person. He’s a fantastic human. Doesn’t deserve a lot of the flack that he gets. Man, he’s had a bad run at it.”
Evidently, Hamlin believes a lot of Dillon’s misfortune comes from where he’s running in the pack, as it’s where most of the wrecks take place. However, it’s not simply a driver issue, as his team as a whole have been lacking in 2024.
“The last year, just an enormous amount of DNFs. I think a lot of that is just because of where you’re running,” Hamlin explained. “I think when you get back towards the back of the pack, middle of the pack, you’re going to get in more wrecks. So you know, he’s on a bad run, for sure. You know he wants to turn around. That kid’s got drive. He’s as competitive as I am, maybe more. He’s certainly more athletic than I am.
“I play a lot of sports with Austin Dillon, and he’s competitive. So it’s not like he’s happy running where he’s running. But we saw as a whole, RCR just struggled mightily, mightily this weekend.”
As Hamlin mentioned, Dillon’s RCR teammate Kyle Busch has also dealt with his fair-share of struggles, so it’s not a problem unique to the No. 3. The team as a whole needs to take a long look in the mirror and figure out what’s going on.
Regardless, Austin Dillon wants a chance to show what he can do, and Denny Hamlin believes in the driver’s talent. We’ll see if Dillon gets a shot to show it over the next couple of weeks, with some better luck coming his way potentially.