1 week 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.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: DriverAverages.com
2 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Dillon always runs substantially better when Justin Alexander is his crew chief, and Alexander has once more been replaced by Richard Boswell.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.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
3 weeks agoRichard Childress Racing driver Austin Dillon will start 15th after qualifying for the Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. This will mark the third consecutive race where Dillon will start inside the top 15 at Atlanta. In the six most recent races at the site, Dillon has two top-20 finishes but has never finished placed than 20th and only scored positive place differential once. During last week's Daytona 500, Dillon lost place differential and finished in the 23rd position after starting 15th. Although RCR typically brings great equipment to drafting-based tracks like Atlanta, it is hard to recommend Dillon over other drivers for DFS in his price range due to his lackluster recent history at the Georgia track and lower-than-average upside. Fading the No. 3 Chevrolet driver would not be a bad call for this week.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: DriverAverages.com
4 weeks agoAustin Dillon has had a knack for pulling off inexplicable wins at times, particularly on plate tracks after wrecking the leader, but don't count on history repeating itself in Sunday's Daytona 500. For one thing, it seems like lately he only runs well when Justin Alexander is his crew chief, and he has been replaced by Richard Boswell for this season. Secondly, the Chevies did not seem to have the speed of either the Toyotas or the Fords in the Duel races, as Dillon faded from fourth to seventh in his Duel race, although he did outperform his pre-race-favorite teammate Kyle Busch. That relegated Dillon to a 15th-place starting position. He might be worth a small bet on the win at 40-1, but he is probably starting too highly to have much DFS value, and at $6,900, he is probably overvalued based on his recent performance.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
RADIO
