Austin Dillon exceeded expectations in the NASCAR Cup Series Round of 16 but he will have to repeat the feat again in hopes of making it to the Round of 8.
Many expected Dillon to be one of the drivers to be eliminated in the first round of the 2020 NASCAR playoffs but after two top-five finish and a 12th-place finish in the three races of the first round, Dillon easily booked his spot for the Round of 12.
Dillon will have to prove himself back again after a poor finish in the first race of the Round of 12. Overheating issues and a loss of power steering meant that he had to satisfy with a 32nd-place finish. This put Dillon in the last position amount the 12 drivers.
While for all the racing he has shown so far in the playoffs, Dillon knows that the game is not over yet.
“Vegas, we had a race going that we felt like we needed to have. Obviously, we had a failure that kind of crushed our points dream going into Talladega and how we would approach it. But the positive light in that is it’s a lot easier going to Talladega with one thing in mind and not worrying about points,” he said.
“I’m not really worried about points – I think we need to go win the race to transfer to the next round and try to create our own destiny that way. For me, it’s throwing caution to the wind.”
The position that he is at right now, it puts an extra burden on Dillon to win the race, which he is not turning back against.
“It’s a little different approach than what we probably would have approached it with a little bit of a points gap – trying to play out and see how things go in each stage and go from there,” he said.
“But the way we’re sitting now, I think we need to win both stages and try to win the race.”
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