HAMPTON, Ga. – A busy week for Daytona 500 champion Austin Dillon just got a little busier.
In addition to Sunday’s QuikTrip Folds of Honor 500, the Richard Childress Racing driver will also compete in Saturday afternoon’s Active Pest Control 200 for Young’s Motorsports.
The second race of the Truck Series will embark Dillon’s return to the series since competing at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway last year for MDM Motorsports.
The grandson of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series team owner Richard Childress finished seventh in that event driving for MDM Motorsports.
“Well, Tyler (Young) has done a lot in the Truck Series and he has been working really hard,” said Dillon. “Kind of met him through mutual friends and seen what kind of effort he was putting into the Truck Series. We used him last year for a couple of races with Austin Dillon Motorsports. So, we had the opportunity to run Atlanta with GoShare and figured Tyler was the guy to do it with. Looking forward to working with his whole group of guys he’s got over there.
“It seems like they’ve got some good stuff and today will be the first time I will get in the Truck. I just want to go out there… I had fun running this race last year. It’s one of those places that anytime you get a chance to run at Atlanta with the old pavement the way it is, sliding around out there, I like the chances. It’s fun.”
Dillon will drive Young’s Motorsports second truck, the No. 20 Chevrolet with Andrew Abbott serving as crew chief.
“We’re super stoked to have Austin driving one of our Young’s Motorsports trucks,” team manager Tyler Young told CATCHFENCE.com. “This has been in the works for a couple weeks even before his Daytona 500 win. We’re looking forward to putting a competitive truck underneath him and hoping for a strong result on Saturday afternoon.”
Young runs the day-to-day operations of Mooresville, N.C.-based Young’s Motorsports. After running one full-time and a partial second truck last year, Young who also competes part-time is committed to running two trucks full-time in 2018.
Last weekend at Daytona, Floridian Scott Lagasse Jr. earned Young’s Motorsports a fifth-place finish for Dillon’s team, while Austin Hill – driving full-time finished a solid 11th.
Lagasse’s effort was a career-best finish for the organization.
“Daytona was really good for us,” added Young. “We brought two strong trucks to the track and we were competitive from the moment we hit the track. We stayed out of trouble and were in contention with both trucks when it counted most.
“It’s a great boost for our team to have such a good start to the year. Hopefully, it can continue this weekend at Atlanta and next weekend in Las Vegas too.”
Dillon the 2011 Truck Series champion has 69 career starts with 13 poles, seven wins, 24 top-five and 47 top-10 finishes. He has three starts at Atlanta with a best result of sixth during his championship season.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
