Austin Dillon blames busted power steering for Martinsville disappointment

Austin Dillon has been a race winner in the past but has been trundling around the rear of the pack for the past two years.

Austin Dillon blames busted power steering for Martinsville disappointment

Richard Childress and Austin Dillon (Via IMAGO)

Richard Childress‘s grandson, Austin Dillon has not been able to salvage his way into the top-10 even once in the 2024 season. He has been among the most disappointing performers in the garage since the start of 2023 season and Martinsville last Sunday was no different. The 33-year-old reveals why his run of bad luck continued at Martinsville, where he finished 34th.

Austin Dillon has not been able to fair well on the NASCAR field since the introduction of Next-Gen cars and 2024 so far has been one of the worst starts to a season in his career. He is currently sitting 31st in the championship table and has yet to score even a stage finish this season. Moreover, his race at Martinsville took him out of contention of even breaching in the lead lap which has urged Dillon to explain his plight.

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The No:3 Chevy Camaro ZL1 driver explained that during the race in Virginia, his cras’ power steering went out which made traversing the track pretty hard. He was disappointed with the place he finished and scoring a mere three points but was content with being able to finish the race at least without any aid of the power steering.

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Long day from the Bass Road Shop Chevy we had a problem with the left front tire locking up it. I think the power steering was going out pretty much the whole race. And when it went out it was about a 200 laps to go. Fought hard I can at least say I finished the race with no power steering. Gonna be a little sore tomorrow but we keep fighting, obviously not what we want. We want to go to Texas and try to regain some momentum.
Austin Dillon wrote in an Instagram post.

Austin Dillon feels ecstatic to be back in an alliance with Justin Alexander

Though the season does not seem to be going in the way of The Ace. A recent change in his pit crew may be able to bring back his faith in the team and provide a morale boost to the nine-time Cup Series race winner.

Austin Dillon 2023
Austin Dillon at Martinsville (RCR/Twitter)

His previous crew-chief, who has failed to help him escape the poor streak, Keith Rodden has been replaced by an old ally of Dillon, Justin Alexander. Subsequently, the RCR driver was elated and was optimistic about his reunion.

I think it’s a big morale boost for our team, like I said, and to get Justin [Alexander] back on board with traveling and going to the racetrack, you know, that was the biggest thing.
Austin Dillon said.

He reckons that due to a change in the crew chief, better strategic calls would be made which would in turn help in improving their race outcomes. However, time will tell how this reunion of Alexander and Dillon will play out in the grand scheme of things.

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