Dillon and RCR aiming 'to go back out there and make (Busch) proud'

Austin Dillon had one simple, very straightforward point for everyone at Richard Childress Racing this week.

“I think Kyle Busch, his character, would have wanted all of us to do what we could to get back to victory lane and to work as hard as possible,” Dillon revealed Saturday. “I knew what he cared about, and that was being here on Sunday racing as hard as he could for his guys and for himself and for his family, to try and create history in this sport. We have a great opportunity to do that at RCR, to go back out there and make him proud.

“So, that was the big speech this week from me: just ride for the brand, man. I think Kyle rode for the brand.”

Richard Childress Racing held a companywide meeting this week as the organization continues to grapple with the sudden and unexpected passing of the two-time NASCAR champion. Dillon was among the various speakers and pulled from his grandfather, Richard Childress, who pushed onward after the passing of Dale Earnhardt, as the two had promised each other they would.

The organization now has to do the same once again. Dillon acknowledged that some of those who lived through Earnhardt’s passing in 2001 are still with the company and are experiencing such a loss again.

“My grandfather made a shirt about that at RCR,” Dillon said. “It’s a Red Steagall song or poem that he talks about, riding the brand, and I played that for our whole entire company and said, 'You know, Kyle rode for the brand,' and now it’s our time to go do that. I think we all really want to go out there and run well for him, and for my grandfather and all the RCR fans out there.

“There is a lot of hard work and effort going on right now, working hard with Austin Hill and doing what we can to make everybody proud.”

Dillon also praised the leadership of the company’s president, Mike Verlander. He described Verlander’s address of the company this week as amazing and said he did a beautiful job. Verlander and Busch were very close, according to Dillon.

NASCAR did not require Dillon or the rest of his fellow competitors to speak to the media last weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the days following Busch’s passing. Saturday at Nashville was the first time Dillon had addressed the media, and he did so for 10 minutes with poise and projecting leadership.

Busch had called Dillon one of the best teammates he had ever had a few weeks before his death. It was Dillon who first pitched the idea of recruiting Busch to Richard Childress Racing when it appeared he would be a free agent after 15 years with Joe Gibbs Racing. The deal was signed beginning with the 2023 season, and Busch won three races that year.

Those races wound up being the final three Cup Series race wins of Busch’s career. With a total of 63 wins, Busch is currently eighth on the all-time wins list.

“My grandfather and my dad were at the hospital, and I was at the shop with everybody and trying to keep them updated, and going through that was tough,” Dillon said. “When I got home, I just told [wife] Whitney, ‘Look, I got to write him a letter.’ Most of you have probably read what I wrote, and that was the biggest reason I felt like I could go forward because it was from the heart and how I felt about Kyle.

“It’s going to hurt for a long time, but I know the character he was, and he’d want us to go kick butt, and that’s what I want.”

Richard Childress is scheduled to address the media for the first time next weekend at Michigan International Speedway.