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Richard Childress Racing driver Austin Dillon's fortunes have not changed in 2024 after retiring on 10 race weekends last year. Four races into the current season, Dillon has been involved in an incident in three events.
Lining up 30th on the grid for the Shriners Children's 500 at Phoenix Raceway, Dillon was involved in a three-car wreck initiated by Kaulig Racing driver Derek Kraus just six laps into the race. Team Penske driver Austin Cindric was also collected in the wreck.
Kraus spun on his own on the backstretch, as his #16 Chevy was left standing sideways on the track covered in a plume of smoke. Cindric clipped the stationary Chevy, while Dillon soon hit the car in a head-on collision, being blinded by the smoke.
Watch Derek Kraus's spin and Austin Dillon's on-board footage in the below video:
Austin Cindric's #2 Ford was terminally damaged and was retired on the same lap while Kraus and Dillon could continue several laps down. Kraus ultimately retired his #16 Chevy after being involved in another incident. Dillon managed to finish the race, albeit being eight laps down on the leader.
In the season opener at Daytona, Austin Dillon was involved in an incident and was classified 37th. The following weekend he registered a 22nd place finish at Atlanta after being involved in an early race pile-up, followed by an incident-free 16th place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Denny Hamlin sympathizes with Austin Dillon's recent run of form
Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin defended Austin Dillon's recent run of form in the latest episode of his podcast Actions Detrimental, released after the weekend at Phoenix Raceway.
After witnessing Dillon get mired in yet another wreck last Sunday, Hamlin backed the #3 Richard Childress Racing driver. He also expressed discontent with the unfair criticism Dillon received for being the grandson of team owner Richard Childress.
The #11 JGR driver said:
"I love Austin, he is a good person. Austin gets a lot of sh*t because he’s racing for his grandfather. People think that he’s a silver spoon, this, that, and the other. Austin Dillon is a great person. He is a fantastic human and doesn’t deserve a lot of the flack that he gets. But man, he’s had a bad run at it the last year. Just an enormous amount of DNFs."
Denny Hamlin suggested that the RCR Chevies were massively off the pace at Phoenix. He also shed light on Kyle Busch's struggles at the one-mile oval. Busch was classified 22nd at the end of the Shriners Children's 500, 10 spots ahead of his teammate Dillon.
