Austin Dillon tries to build a sinister alliance among young guns

At a fan event during media day at South Point, Daytona 500 champion Austin Dillon took the stage with five other young Playoff drivers—Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney and Erik Jones.

Those drivers enter the Playoffs at a considerable disadvantage to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series’ so-called “Big Three”–Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr.—who collectively have won 17 of the 26 regular-season races and have racked up the three highest totals of Playoff points.

Dillon offered a practical, edgy and ostensibly facetious solution to the Big Three problem.

“These drivers up here, we should just make a deal,” Dillon said. “If we just wreck the Big Three the next couple of weeks, we’ll have a lot better shot of getting to Homestead.”

After the laughter and the applause from the audience died down, Bowman chimed in.

“I’m not scared,” he said.

“If we split the profits from the championship, it would go a long way,” Dillon responded. “Our odds in Vegas would go way up if they’re not in it at Homestead.”

Bowman, however, was the only taker.

“Everybody else is scared,” Bowman said.

Greg Engle
About Greg Engle 7421 Articles
Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.