It’s been a devilishly delightful highlight of Ty Dillon’s miracle run through the In-Season Challenge.
After each unbelievable upset, the 32nd seed lightheartedly calls out the favored driver (or team) that he just vanquished.
Dillon stole the thunder of “I beat your favorite driver” in saying farewell to Denny Hamlin. He teased Brad Keselowski for his subpar basketball skills (a deep cut for fans of Charlotte’s NBA team).
Hendrick Motorsports and Alex Bowman were scolded for a failed promise to silence NASCAR’s Cinderella story, and fans were encouraged to buy the “extra small size” Ty Dillon T-shirt that John Hunter Nemechek wore (and then playfully ripped up) before being beaten at Dover Motor Speedway.
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“I just want to have fun,” Dillon said. “I try not to be too personal and keep it somewhat light.”
It will come as no surprise to learn that Dillon and his kids are fans of pro wrestling. “I love those mic moments that create the character,” he says, but this goes deeper than just “cutting a promo” (as the men in the colorful tights would say).
“I’m a huge sports fanatic, and I love the entertainment side of sports,” Dillon said. “I feel a lot of drivers hone in just on their personal performance, but we are entertainers. This is an entertainment sport. I always try to think of ways that I can be a more entertaining athlete, and this in-season tournament opened up the opportunity.”
It’s done much more than that for a journeyman driver whose prior claim to fame was being the grandson of Hall of Fame team owner Richard Childress.
Dillon, 33, has made 266 starts in the Cup Series and driven in seven full-time seasons since 2017, and yet he admittedly was “invisible” when the $1 million bracket-style challenge began a month ago.
With NASCAR Nation finally getting to appreciate his affable charm, Dillon has noticed a massive surge of supporters. Fellow Cup drivers, fans and even security guards at Dover are cheering on a pilot who has been quite likable now that he commands the midsummer attention usually sucked up by playoff races.
“Our story doesn’t get told in years past,” Dillon said. “So I’m grateful that we’ve been able to show our personality as a team and myself as well in this run.
“It’s been really cool this in-season tournament has given us a spotlight that typically at this point in the season a team like ours isn’t getting, even though we’re still improving.”
His No. 10 Chevrolet still is far from setting the world on fire, but Dillon has enjoyed big moments. Starting with an eighth-place result at EchoPark Speedway, formerly known as Atlanta Motor Speedway (his first top 10 since April 2022), he advanced to the final round by ripping off four consecutive top 20s for the first time in nearly three years — and with a dramatic flair.
Whether moving Alex Bowman aside on the final turn of the last lap at Sonoma Raceway or taking Nemechek and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. three-wide into Turn 1 on an overtime restart at Dover, the feel-good story line of the inaugural In Season Challenge has been defined by the grit and determination of Kaulig Racing.
“We’re finding ourselves as a bulldog of a team,” Dillon said. “We’re going to fight until the end, and don’t count us out until the last lap.
“We want to pull all these teams out to the deep water and then see who can survive the deep, deep water with us. Because we know we’re tougher than them.”
He speaks from surviving a career on the brink many times. If there’s been a knock on Dillon, it’s his lighthearted nature that he believes has been misunderstood as a lack of competitive fire.
But his goofy and blustery post-race barbs belie the fact that he is battle-tested. A winless decade of toiling in obscurity taught him the value of competitive persistence balanced with vulnerability and introspection.
“I’ve worked hard in the dark and not really had any recognition for a long time — and probably rightfully so as we haven’t done anything in the sport since my Xfinity career,” said Dillon, whose lone Xfinity victory was at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2014. “So I found peace in my own journey when nobody was watching or talking about me. Grinding in my own hard work and being pleased with what I’m putting into my career and my life and the way that I handle myself.
“When you find that satisfactory and you’re not really worried about the attention, but then the results and the attention start coming, you’re able to appreciate it in a different way.”
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Sunday at the Brickyard, he will face off against Ty Gibbs, with the highest finisher earning $1 million.
Dillon aims to continue riding the momentum and spotlight for as long as he can.
“I keep telling my friends like I’m riding this wave and we’re going to ride it as long as it goes, but it is just that,” Dillon said. “Life comes in waves, and it’s always good to stop in the moments that are good and just be so present and happy. And to not look past the good moments in life because you have to find peace in your own journey and the things that you’re accomplishing when no one’s really looking.”
OK, but what bulletin board material does he have ready if he manages to beat Gibbs, the grandson of another NASCAR Hall of Famer?
Dillon laughs off the suggestion while explaining his next In-Season Challenge win would stand on its own without the need for any bravado.
“And I feel like we’ve already won this thing no matter what happens on Sunday anyway,” he said.
