Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Facing elimination, Ty Dillon not yet ready to be overly aggressive

NASCAR XFINITY Series Drive Sober 200 - Qualifying

DOVER, DE - OCTOBER 01: Ty Dillon, driver of the #3 Red Kap/Sullivan Uniform Chevrolet, stands on the grid during qualifying for the NASCAR XFINITY Series Drive Sober 200 at Dover International Speedway on October 1, 2016 in Dover, Delaware. (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images)

Getty Images

CONCORD, N.C. – For as badly as Ty Dillon is ready to break through the championship ceiling, don’t look for him to operate any differently at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the first Chase elimination race.

“I think with the situation we’re in with this round, just knowing the people that we’re racing to get to that next spot, I don’t think we’ll have to be overly aggressive or do anything out of the norm,” Dillon said Thursday. “I don’t think this is the time or situation for that. If we just execute a good race and don’t overexert ourselves, do stuff that we don’t normally do, we won’t have to worry about doing anything like.

“I think we can just race our way in with the speed that we’ve had all year compared to the guys we’re racing.”

But even as Dillon faces elimination from the first round, his championship or bust mentality is as strong as ever.

“That attitude’s never really changed for me,” Dillon said. “It’s been my attitude since I started racing – I want to win championships. That’s what you’re known for in the sport the most, winning races and winning championships.”

Although Dillon is winless this season, he does not need to win the Drive for the Cure 300 to advance. A runner-up effort last weekend at Dover International Speedway has Dillon three points out of a transfer spot.

“We’re getting better as a team,” Dillon said. “We’re growing in momentum, and as the year winds down and gets tougher and tougher, hopefully, we do, too.”

Ty, the youngest of the Dillon brothers, has watched Austin Dillon earn a championship in both the Camping World Truck and Xfinity Series. Ty, however, has had a much harder go of trying to win his first NASCAR title.

In contention for the Truck Series championship in 2013, Dillon crashed in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Last year, sitting second in Xfinity points, he blamed a blown tire in the fall Dover race for ending his title hopes.

Thursday, he admitted it’s hard not to think about his uphill battle.

“Winning a championship means the world to me,” Dillon said. “So being on the outside coming into a cutoff race you’re obviously thinking about it and thinking about the situation.”

Follow @KellyCrandall