Austin Dillon Always A Sleeper At Kansas
11 months agoAustin Dillon is having the worst season of his NASCAR Cup Series career this year, but that shouldn't make you stay away from him this weekend at Kansas Speedway. We just went through a very rough stretch of races for Dillon, so his struggles are likely a little over-blown right now. The fact of the matter is, Austin Dillon has been a solid sleeper on low-wear, 1.5-mile tracks in the Next Gen era, and he has that potential at Kansas this weekend. Additionally, over the last seven races at this track, Austin has finished between 10th and 14th six times. AD3 qualified 16th for this weekend's AdventHealth 400, and while it's risky to take a struggling driver starting that high in DFS, Dillon is definitely a tournament option to consider in DraftKings this weekend with his $6,500 salary and his record of getting decent finishes at this track type.
Source: DriverAverages
Source: DriverAverages
Austin Dillon Has Excellent Track Record At Homestead
1 week agoEven though he qualified back in 30th for this weekend's Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Austin Dillon should be on your radar for a solid finish on Sunday. There are a few tracks on the schedule where Austin really excels, and Homestead is one of them. In 11 career starts here, he notched four top-10 finishes and just two results worse than 14th. Additionally, his average finish of 12.6 at this track ranks fifth-best among active drivers with more than one start at the track. In practice on Saturday, the No. 3 Chevrolet looked to be about a mid-pack or better car. Dillon ended up 18th-fastest on the single-lap speed chart and was 17th-best when it came to 30-lap average. In terms of DFS this weekend, Austin Dillon makes an excellent pick on DraftKings, as he is relatively cheap (at $6,300) and has a ton of Place Differential upside at one of his best tracks.
Source: Speedway Media
Source: Speedway Media
Austin Dillon Decent At Las Vegas, But Not Worthy Of DFS Play
2 weeks agoAustin Dillon has a decent record at Las Vegas, even though he hardly ever leads there. In 19 starts, he has finished in the top twenty 14 times and has been reliably consistent on a very low level, which suggests he will probably improve somewhat from his 22nd place starting position. However, he has only led 12 laps there (all before the advent of the Next Gen car), so it seems highly improbable that he will score much in the way of points for leading laps or fastest laps. Furthermore, Justin Alexander isn't his crew chief this year and he always runs worse without him than with him. He'll probably gain a couple positions, but not enough to make him a valuable pick for DFS especially since he costs closer to $7,000 than $6,000.
Source: Racing Reference
Source: Racing Reference
Is Austin Dillon Worth Rostering In DFS For Phoenix This Week?
3 weeks agoAustin Dillon of Richard Childress Racing will start 21st for the Shriners Children's 500 at Phoenix Raceway. The last time Dillon started in that position at Phoenix was in the November 2023 race at the site, where he went on to finish 12th. In 22 starts at Phoenix, Dillon has 13 top-20 finishes while earning positive Place Differential in four of the last five Cup events at the site. In practice, Dillon ranked 29th in overall lap averages and displayed top-20 speeds in the 15, 20, 25, and 30 consecutive lap average categories. Although Dillon's Phoenix history has been hit or miss, his practice speeds, starting position, and low salary ($5,800 on DraftKings), make him an overall solid driver to consider for all formats this week.
Source: DriverAverages.com
Source: DriverAverages.com
Lack Of Road-Course Prowess And Justin Alexander Likely To Doom Austin Dillon
4 weeks agoRoad courses have always been Austin Dillon's worst track type as he only has two top-10 finishes in 37 starts and an average finish of 22.6, while he's been more competitive everywhere else. One of those top-10 finishes did come at the road course where the NASCAR Cup Series will be racing on Sunday in the city that shares his name, but although he finished 10th, he ran much worse and his average running position was only 21st. Furthermore, Dillon always runs substantially better when Justin Alexander is his crew chief, and Alexander has once more been replaced by Richard Boswell. Combining those two factors, along with the fact that he's only starting 27th, means you can't expect much.
Source: Racing Reference
Source: Racing Reference
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