Austin Dillon Headshot
Austin
Dillon
Austin Dillon is the driver of the No. 3 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing and is currently competing in his 10th full-time season in the NASCAR Cup Series. Dillon, 31, is a two-time NASCAR champion, having won the 2011 NASCAR Truck Series driver’s championship and the 2013 NASCAR Xfinity Series’ driver’s championship. He has won four points-paying NASCAR Cup Series races, including the prestigious Coca-Cola 600 in 2017 and the Daytona 500 in 2018. Dillon is a 20-time winner in NASCAR’s top-three touring series and has qualified for the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs five times.
Dillon’s most recent win came in August 2022 at Daytona International Speedway when he won the last race of the regular season to clinch the final spot in the NASCAR Playoffs. He earned a career-best five top-five finishes, 11 top-10 finishes, and ultimately finished the season 11th in the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings, tying his best post-season performance (2020, 2017).
Dillon narrowly missed making the NASCAR Playoffs in 2021 despite one of the most consistent seasons in his NASCAR Cup Series career that included one top-five finish, eight top-10s and an average finishing position of 14.4. He also won his Bluegreen Vacations Duel at Daytona race to kick off the season.
In 2020, Dillon earned a race win at Texas Motor Speedway to qualify for the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs for the fourth time in his career. Despite missing a race at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course due to COVID-19, he earned four top-five and nine top-10 finishes, leading 135 laps over the course of the season, the most of his NASCAR Cup Series career. Ultimately, Dillon finished the season 11th in the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings.
Dillon’s 2019 season was highlighted by three pole awards, bringing his career NASCAR Cup series pole award total to six. He also led a total of 70 laps. The Welcome, North Carolina driver earned three consecutive NASCAR Playoff berths from 2018 through 2016 in a three-season stint that included winning the prestigious Daytona 500 with a last-lap pass (2018), earning his career-first NASCAR Cup Series victory in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway over Memorial Day Weekend (2017) and completing a solid 97.65 percent of his laps attempted – seventh-best in the series – while earning pole awards at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California and Texas Motor Speedway (2016).
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Keith Rodden is the crew chief of the No. 3 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing with driver Austin Dillon. 2023 marks the pair’s first year working together, and Rodden’s first year at RCR.
Rodden, an experienced crew chief and race engineer, most recently worked on the Motorsports Competition NASCAR strategy group at General Motors. In that role, Rodden focused on working with Chevy race teams on how to best approach track tests, practice sessions, and race events to optimize race results. He also worked as the General Motors WFT project lead, serving as test team crew chief.
He has worked as either a crew chief or engineer with top-tier NASCAR teams such as Hendrick Motorsports, Evernham Motorsports, Richard Petty Motorsports, Team Red Bull, and Chip Ganassi Racing. Notably, Rodden worked for over a decade with Kasey Kahne, including as crew chief of the No. 5 Chevrolet at Hendrick Motorsports.
Rodden began his professional motorsports career in 2003 with owner Andy Petree.
Rodden earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering at North Carolina State University.
