WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — By no means does Austin Dillon consider himself a road-course ringer. In fact, it’s admittedly among his biggest racing flaws.
But Dillon has honed in on his craft, always looking to improve. He finally saw the fruits of his labor pay off with a respectable sixth-place effort in Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen — his best showing ever when turning left and right in 47 starts.
“I’ve worked a really long time on my road-course racing — it has not been great,” Dillon told reporters upon exiting the No. 3 Chevrolet. “But for me, that was a huge day to be able to run up with those guys.”
MORE: Race results | Watkins Glen photos
Dillon took the initial green flag from 25th position. Looking for ways to find track position, Richard Boswell, second-year crew chief for the No. 3 bunch, called his driver to pit road earlier than any of its competitors at Lap 15.
The reward: track position. Dillon hung tough inside the top 10 for the entirety of Stage 2, collecting seven points in fourth place. His Richard Childress Racing teammate Kyle Busch wasn’t far behind — literally — in fifth, banking six points.
Boswell stayed on top of the in-race strategy throughout the 100-lap event. When Joey Logano’s tire carcass brought out the caution with 41 laps remaining, the No. 3 car was among the first cars in the pecking order to hit pit road. The objective for the rest of the race was to stretch the fuel tank to the finish line.
That’s what Dillon did while Shane van Gisbergen, Michael McDowell and Tyler Reddick weaved through traffic on fresher Goodyear rubber and a full tank of Sunoco fuel while making a pit stop under green-flag conditions. Though he stumbled after taking the checkered flag, the No. 3 car was sixth, third-best among drivers that pitted for the final time with 38 laps remaining.
“I did a good job saving,” Dillon said, giving himself a slap on the back. “I actually made it all the way back around, so I think we could have pushed a little harder. [Kyle Busch] pushed hard at the end and he surprised me into the bus stop. When he did that, I thought he must have saved earlier and then he ran out before us, so we were able to get him back at the line.
“Wish I would have gotten clear of [Chase Briscoe]; I think we would have finished in front of him, but it was going to be tough because he was going to push it hard when I went. He was trying to manage me in the mirror.”
Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch race at Watkins Glen.
Dillon admitted the out-of-nowhere vibe of the finish was unexpected, but not from a lack of effort.
He noted: “We were eighth on average in practice. We got out there in race pace today and felt really good. Richard Boswell did a good job calling me down pit road and running hard for three laps, got our track position and never gave it up.
“It’s surprising, but I’m not (surprised) from the amount of work that I put in. It feels great with the effort and time that we spend on these road races to get better.”
The sixth-place finish is Dillon’s first top 10 since winning at Richmond Raceway last August, a meaty 22 races ago. With Busch coasting across the line in eighth position, it’s the first time Richard Childress Racing has put two entries inside the top 10 since last year’s Chicago Street Race. But it’s the first time Dillon and Busch have shared a top-10 spot since Texas Motor Speedway in April 2024 (75 races ago).
“We’re a team that’s never going to give up, we’re going to keep fighting,” Dillon added. “We don’t want to suck; we want to run good. It feels really good to do it at a road course today and that was helpful. We’re working hard.”
Watkins Glen wasn’t the first time that the No. 3 car showed up at the track in 2026 with competitive pace, Boswell noted. He believes there have been a handful of scenarios that have kept Dillon from breaking through to the top 10. Scoring a combined 35 points across the three drafting-track races isn’t ideal, either.
“At the end of the day, I feel like we’ve had top-10 cars at a handful of races and have not got the finishes,” Boswell told NASCAR.com. “You give us a couple of points at some of these superspeedway races where we’ve wrecked out early and you’re right on the edge of making [The Chase]. It’s been a frustrating year from that standpoint. But from a speed standpoint, it might not look like it on paper, but we have made our cars better.”
Dillon catapulted five spots in the regular-season championship standings to 22nd with Sunday’s performance, 63 markers behind van Gisbergen at the provisional cutline.
