FORT WORTH, Tex. — Austin Dillon took exception to remarks Richard Childress Racing teammate Kevin Harvick made after Harvick and Austin’s brother, Ty Dillon, wrecked during hard racing in last Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville.
Harvick referred to Ty Dillon as a spoon-fed “rich kid,” intimating that the grandsons of Richard Childress had their racing opportunities handed to them.
Dillon responded in an interview on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
“My grandfather has given my brother and I both a great opportunity to go out and take advantage of,” Dillon said. “If anybody out there doesn’t think that I should go after something that is in front of me, I don’t know what to say.
“I feel like this opportunity has been put in front of me, and I am very blessed.”
Appearing in the Texas Motor Speedway media center on Friday afternoon, Dillon elaborated.
“I did that interview, and I posted it on my Twitter (account) for everybody… all the media to see, because I felt like I answered that question as good as I possibly could,” Dillon said. “It was honest, and it was from the heart, and as soon as he (Harvick) saw it, he messaged me and he asked me to come talk to him when he got to the track.
“We had a conversation in the motor home, and I think we’re both better for it at this point in time. He apologized — and was nice.”
Both Austin and Ty Dillon were entered in Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Texas. Austin Dillon was sporting an orange lining in his cowboy hat to raise awareness of NASCAR’s partnership with Drive4COPD during COPD Awareness Month this November.
The Dillons lost their paternal grandfather to COPD, a debilitating lung disease.
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.
- NASCAR to debut new short track package at Phoenix - February 28, 2023
- The Wrench Who Stole Racing - December 16, 2022
- Matt DiBenedetto’s excellent run comes to abrupt, violent end - February 17, 2019
