The No. 3 team of Richard Childress Racing returned to the playoffs this season with a decisive win at Richmond Raceway. It completely changed the season from a financial perspective, but it also continued a Gen 7 trend.
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Austin Dillon's team has started each season of the Next Gen era with some strong performances before struggling in the midpoint of the regular season. It has then picked up steam as the playoffs approached.
Three times, the team has won at the end of the regular season while continuing the trend. Two of these wins put Dillon into the playoffs while a penalty took away last season's appearance.
"It's funny. I think we come out swinging, we kind of take a dip and then we come back," Dillon said Saturday at World Wide Technology Raceway. "I think RC (Richard Childress) has to yell at us at the right time, I guess, and then we get going again. I don't know why that is.
"I'd really love to figure that out, solve for it, but at least we're finding speed at the right time, like you talked about, because I think that's key in this sport now and in every sport. Momentum is big I'm proud of our organization for the speed that we have brought the last couple weeks."
Some of the "yelling" Dillon referenced occurred at Dover Motor Speedway as Dillon and teammate Kyle Busch struggled to contend. The No. 3 team crossed the line in 15th place while the No. 8 team finished 11th.
Neither Busch nor Dillon had the speed to contend for top-five finishes or the win. In fact, Dillon salvaged this finish by gambling and running long during a pit cycle. He and his team took advantage of a late caution and kept some crucial track position.
Childress addressed both teams at the end of the race, and he expressed considerable frustration about the season up to that point.
"We gotta get some d*** race cars," Childress said over the No. 3 radio. "I've seen enough out of our drivers and teams. We've got to work on this s***, period."
The championship-winning owner also said over the No. 8 radio that the team needs to get some race cars. He said that they are "in trouble."
The No. 3 team performed better after Dover. Dillon finished 10th at Iowa Speedway and 15th at Watkins Glen International before winning at Richmond Raceway. He qualified inside the top 10 at Daytona International Speedway and Darlington Raceway.
Dillon's playoff-opener at Darlington fell apart due to a late caution. He sat on pit road when the caution flew, which trapped him one lap down. He had to take the wave around and try to work through the field in the closing laps. He only made it to 18th place.
Instead of capitalizing on opportunities as chaos collected other playoff drivers, Dillon just joined the list of "Southern 500 casualties." He fell to eight points below the cutline.
Now, he only has two more races to recover if he wants to advance to the Round of 12 and keep his championship hopes alive.
"Getting through that race, we're only eight away from the cutline, so it's not insurmountable," Dillon added. "I feel really good about these next two races. So yes, Gateway is huge for us. I think that qualifying today, again, if we can execute like we did at Darlington — this is a place that is tougher to pass than Darlington.
"Maintaining track position is a bit easier because of that, but you also have to do a really good job in strategy and different things. I think the past history of Kyle running really well here and winning. Last year, we had a very fast car and we were able to take advantage of that and finish sixth... and score stage points.
"If we score some stage points and finish in the top-10, I feel like we'll go into Bristol just above the cutline, and then we've got to do the same thing there."
