Dillon goes back to work after first Cup win

While the glow of his first career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win will likely last for some time, Austin Dillon didn't mind getting back to work Friday at Dover International Speedway.

He welcomed it, actually. Addressing the media for the first time since Sunday night at Charlotte, Dillon said he was fully focused on the task at hand during opening Dover practice. Dillon even called it "nice" being able to work with his No. 3 team and crew chief Justin Alexander, who's only in his second week of the job.

"It was a solid practice session," Dillon said. "I feel like we just want to win again. We've got a lot left to accomplish. That was the first [win]; we want more to come and to get ourselves solidly into the playoffs."

Don't let Dillon fool you, however. Winning the Coca-Cola 600 was special, and he spent the week enjoying it. There was the opportunity to close the bell on the New York Stock Exchange, and he even ran into Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato in the airport. After not being able to do a burnout on the Charlotte frontstretch because he ran out of gas, Dillon did some at his house.

Pretty cool running into the#Indy500Champion in NYC! Congrats on the win,@TakumaSatoRacerpic.twitter.com/fZ4EImHfzC— Austin Dillon (@austindillon3)May 31, 2017

Before leaving for Dover, Richard Childress Racing recreated Victory Lane at the shop for all the employees to enjoy. Dillon addressed the company and said it was the most emotional part of the week.

Charlotte was certainly a nice boost for Dillon, his team, and certainly Richard Childress Racing, which now has two wins this year after going winless the last three. Yet, staying relevant and continuing to improve its performance can't get lost in the shuffle.

Related Stories

It's why a crew chief change was made for Dillon. Charlotte was just his second top-10 finish of the season while he's led nine laps. The win catapulted him to 21st in points and might have locked him into the playoffs, but there is still plenty of work to be done.

Alexander seems to be the man for the job. Or at least so far, so good from what Dillon has seen.

"I don't know if it's the honeymoon [phase] or what, but he's doing everything right, right now," Dillon said. "And then in practice today it was cool. I kind of smiled halfway through practice because I was thinking about an adjustment. I said the car was a little tight and I was thinking in my mind I know what direction I want to go here. I saw him kind of turn around to the engineers and ... he just had a revelation, and he said, all right, we're going to do this. And it was exactly what I was thinking.

"I had that once before when I was running for a championship with Danny Stockman where I could say I'm tight here and he could say, well I want to adjust this, and it was exactly what I was thinking. I didn't even have to tell him what part to change. That is what we start getting to where know each other. I know it's early on, but that felt really good. I came in the [hauler], and Eric (Warren, vice president of competition at RCR) is like, what are you smiling for? I was like, well, I'm happy with my guy right now, he is doing really well, and it's exciting."

Dillon was 19th fastest in practice.