Austin Dillon Soaks In NASCAR Storylines

By ESPN

 Austin Dillon drives the No. 3 car and knows some fans love the fact that he wheels the car with Dale Earnhardt's signature number while others still think it shouldn't run at all.

Dillon loves living part of that storyline. He loves storylines, period. Every time NASCAR comes to one of its biggest, baddest tracks to open the season, some sort of drama, some sort of crazy happens.

Dillon soaks it all in. Even when it involves him -- whether it's conspiracy theories of his winning the pole as a rookie or talk about how to make the sport safer after a crash such as the one he had at Daytona in July 2015 -- he lets the drama swirl and buckles the belts.

If life is a roller coaster, Dillon relishes the ride.

"I don't care when it crashes at the end," Dillon said about the roller coaster he lives as part of the NASCAR carnival. "I'm ready for the ride. Good. Bad. Or indifferent.

"I'm ready for it. I've been there. I just want to be at the lead of the ride a couple of times. And if we do, then I'm going to talk all the s--- I can. Hopefully I get that opportunity."

Dillon doesn't say that in a cocky manner. He says it because life as a race car driver is supposed to be cool, supposed to be fun and all about relishing the ride. He explained that philosophy to his fiancee Whitney early in their relationship.

"I said, 'Look, something crazy is going to happen all the time in this life with me and family. Don't be scared of change. We're going to be constantly changing,'" Dillon said.

"People that don't like change, they just don't last here. I like change. I embrace change. I don't know that I [actually] like it, but I embrace it and I'm fine with it. I just want to be the best at whatever we're doing and try to give it our all."

So far, giving it his all hasn't resulted in the ultimate NASCAR Cup Series triumph. He has not won a Cup race.

That wasn't exactly the plan when he stepped into the No. 3 for the first time in Cup three years ago. He promptly won the pole for the Daytona 500. The crowds cheered, at least for the most part. A piece of Daytona history had returned and shown some speed.

"I think back of how unprepared I was starting on the pole," said Dillon, who had competed in the Daytona 500 a year earlier, but not in the famed No. 3. "I remember going out the first practice, all the media around, and the main thing I wanted to do was not miss a shift going through Turn 1. ... Now knowing what I know, it's a lot different.

"Now we go to win instead of making laps. If given that opportunity, I think we can take advantage of it."

The last time the No. 3 went to Victory Lane in a Cup event at Daytona was when Earnhardt won the 1998 Daytona 500. A win, man, just thinking about it makes Dillon's voice heavy. His team, Richard Childress Racing, hasn't won in its last 109 races.

"If we win the Daytona 500 with the 3 car, where does that sit us?" Dillon said. "It locks us in the [playoffs]. Automatic contender with that. And it just changes the outlook for everyone. Maybe we have to go prove it at [other tracks], whatever, but it's big.

"It will just help everything if we can get to Victory Lane. it shows commitment from our partners, my grandfather, our employees to really build this 3 team back up to what it was, to really build it back to its winning ways, and that's cool. The history behind it is cool."

The history is what people see when Dillon goes out on the track. When Dillon posted a photo of his car at the Phoenix test a few weeks ago with a 3 on the rear quarter panel, the post soon had nearly 3,000 likes.

"I love trying to represent it, and I think the fans that I do have love to see it out there, and I enjoy that," he said. "There is pressure behind it. I don't want to quit running it until I win. I don't want to do this thing without a win and bringing it back."

It took Earnhardt 20 years to win the Daytona 500. Will Dillon get that long?

He has an interesting take on that question:

"If I race 20 years, I'll be happy either way," Dillon said. "I would be 44. I'd take that tomorrow. It would mean I was able to hold a job for 20 years. That would be awesome."

And there's the humor of Dillon. He truly loves racing. He competed in the Little League World Series as a kid, but he never thought of baseball as a career over racing.

This racing thing? Dillon views it as the ultimate challenge with the ultimate reward.

"There's a lot of things I could do different and be a lot less stressful, but if you're not pushing yourself, your life would be boring," Dillon said. "I like to push.

"At least for me, I want to be able to say I lived every day to the fullest when it's all said and done and went as hard as I could. I don't want to leave any regrets."

That does come with some consequences. In pushing it, Dillon doesn't appear to have many close friends among the other drivers. He is friendly with them, but he admits he has a hard time getting too chummy.

Even with teammates, he has a history -- the strained moments with former teammate Elliott Sadler and current teammate Paul Menard highlight that fact.

"I never understood the dynamic between drivers, what it's really supposed to be -- especially at this level, because you have to be around them so much." Dillon said. "It's weird. You hate them on the track and you try to like them when you're in an area with them."

But wouldn't getting along make things easier? Does he want the drama?

"It's funny -- you have to embrace it," Dillon said. "I think that soap opera deal, it's great. It's what creates the sport. It's going to drive more fans to the soap opera. It's what drives people to [MMA star] Conor McGregor."

It also would count as somewhat old-school, something his grandfather and team owner, Richard Childress, can appreciate.

Childress has seen just about everything in the sport, and his grandsons Austin and Ty Dillon have reinvigorated Childress as a car owner.

A few years ago, Childress felt he could bring back the No. 3 with Austin in Cup. He has seen Austin handle that pressure and the other drama of the racing world and drive through it.

"It doesn't bother him at all to be here [amid] that stuff," Childress said. "He's just that type of person. He doesn't let anything get to him. He's really into going out, having a good time and doing his deal."

Dillon's drama at Daytona includes the 2014 pole as well as the scary crash in the July 2015 race, when his car flew into the catch fence. His drama in restrictor-plate races extends to Talladega, where his car once went airborne and vertical to the track. But at Talladega last May, he finished third with a wrecked car.

He considers that to be one of his career highlights -- maybe not on the accomplishment level of a Daytona 500 pole but certainly in the cool factor.

"Daytona happened so fast, you don't take time to process it," Dillon said about the pole. "One day I'll be able to tell my kids I sat on the pole for the Daytona 500. But to me, I like to look at the race that I came through [the field].

"Hopefully that all changes this year and we get a win."

A win would solidify Dillon as a key part of the history he loves.

"Anything can happen [at Daytona]," Dillon said. "I experienced highs and lows. Every time I go there, something cool happens and it seems to add to the legacy, the history of that place.

"I've been fortunate to be a part of that a few times, bad or good. I love it down there."

If he could just win at Daytona, regain the glory of the No. 3 and probably share some tears with his grandfather in Victory Lane, he would live out the biggest of dreams.

"He's putting the pressure on himself pretty hard," Childress said. "He wants to run good. He wants to be successful. He wants to win for the company.

"That's his whole goal. That's all he's ever dreamed about."

Dillon insists that pressure doesn't come from those who doubt his ability. He just wants to accomplish his goals.

But then again, going down in history and having that Daytona 500 trophy would answer any questions about the No. 3, its return and Dillon's status as a driver.

"That pressure of performing ... I never took the time to sit back and take in what people say," Dillon said. "When I'm done, if I ever took the time to look at it, I want to make sure I prove them all wrong. That would be nice."