This Week’s BREZTRI AEROSPHERE™ (budesonide, glycopyrrolate, and formoterol fumarate) Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at North Wilkesboro Speedway… Austin Dillion, who has made three previous All-Star race starts, returns to the exhibition race after not transferring into the main event one year ago at Texas Motor Speedway. Dillon was locked into this year’s All-Star race with his race win at Daytona International Speedway in August 2022, which also locked him into the 2022 NASCAR Playoffs. This year’s All-Star race weekend moves to North Wilkesboro Speedway for part of NASCAR’s revival weekend at the .625-mile oval. While no drivers entered into this weekend’s race have previously competed at the track in the NASCAR Cup Series, Dillon has made laps there as one of three drivers who participated in a Goodyear Tire test in the Spring.
Short Track Momentum … Dillon enters this weekend’s All-Star race on the strength of a series of strong short track performances in the NASCAR Cup Series. He finished second in the non-points-paying Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum exhibition race in February, finished 12th at Martinsville Speedway in April and third at the Bristol Motor Speedway dirt track, also in April.
BREZTRI AEROSPHERE™ (budesonide, glycopyrrolate, and formoterol fumarate) Sponsors the No. 3 at North Wilkesboro Speedway … BREZTRI is an AstraZeneca product and the sponsor of the No. 3 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at North Wilkesboro Speedway with Austin Dillon. You can learn more at breztri.com. AstraZeneca is a global, science-led biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialization of prescription medicines. AstraZeneca operates in over 100 countries and its innovative medicines are used by millions of patients worldwide.
Meet Austin Dillon… Dillon is scheduled to make an appearance at the Team Chevrolet Stage in the North Wilkesboro Speedway Fan Midway for a Q&A session on Sunday, May 21st at 12:15 p.m. ET. He’s also scheduled to greet race fans at the RCR Merchandise Trailer in the Fan Midway at 12:45 p.m. ET on Sunday. Come meet the driver of the No. 3 Chevrolet and get new RCR gear.
A lot of drivers have North Wilkesboro Speedway circled as one of the most exciting races on the schedule this season. What are your thoughts about racing there?
“I’m excited to race in the All-Star race at North Wilkesboro Speedway.. It’s such a huge event for our sport. I remember as a kid my dad won a Late Model race there and we got to take the elevator ride up to victory lane. Hopefully, we can do it for $1 million. We participated in the tire test in March. The tire fall-off is going to be fast, so managing tires during a long run will be important. I personally love old-school short-track racing. It’s going to be a physical race that my Richard Childress team is ready for.”
What does it mean to you to be a part of the group of drivers that gets to bring back racing at this historic track,?
“I think it’s very cool and important for our sport, and I’m thrilled that I get to be a part of history as one of the drivers competing in this year’s All-Star race at North Wilkesboro Speedway. I know they’ve done so much work to the track and the community is excited about having us there. North Wilkesboro Speedway is one of those racetracks where Richard Childress Racing has had a lot of success. I think we won five times with Dale Earnhardt. When I tested a couple of months ago, it was clear that it’s just a nostalgic place and I’m excited to run the All-Star race and see what we can do. Having a sold-out crowd to race in front of, there’s going to be nothing like it.”
What are you most looking forward to about the All-Star Race?
“I think the atmosphere is going to be electric. I love the format NASCAR came up with getting the pit crews involved. People are excited about it. I think this can become our Master’s event for NASCAR. It’s pretty much a second throwback weekend in a row, following Darlington Raceway. It’s going to be electric and we all want to have fun at the All-Star race. This is the track we can do that at. It’s going to be an experience – maybe even the best experience of the year for our sport. It’s something different, and I personally love the nostalgia associated with the track. I’m sure everybody is excited to see how the racing turns out and I think it will be great. It will be a blast from the past.”
The Dillon family has a lot of history at North Wilkesboro Speedway …
“It’s pretty cool because my dad, Mike Dillon, was really good at North Wilkesboro Speedway. He earned two trophies there in the Late Model division, and has a second-place finish there as well. I’ll be walking the track with him to see if I can get any pointers. It’s been a minute since he earned one of those trophies, but I feel like a guy that’s good at a track is always good at it. My dad’s nickname back in the day was The Hurricane. One of the newspapers in Myrtle Beach named him that. He went to Myrtle Beach Speedway and rocked them like a Hurricane, I guess. The name Hurricane Mike definitely fits my dad very well. As a kid, when he would get mad he was like a hurricane.”
You’re racing for a Million dollars this weekend. You are one of the few drivers who had the opportunity to test there. Do you have an edge up on the competition, and how are you going to capitalize?
“It was great to participate in the Goodyear tire test to see the track, get on the track and test it out a little bit. We’ve got to get our car a little better. I think we’ve done that. It’s one of those things where you always want to make it better, and we can use what we learned at the test to try and do that. Racing at North Wilkesboro is going to be so special. We’re racing for a million dollars and those opportunities don’t happen every weekend for us. It’s a huge weekend for our sport and we’re going to do our best.”
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