Dillon stalks trophy double-dip

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In: Xfinity Series News

Austin Dillon, a hefty Sunoco Rookie of the Year lead in hand, now shifts his eye toward history.

No driver has ever won the ROY and the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship in the same year. Not Greg Biffle. Not Carl Edwards. Not even Kyle Busch, he of the series-record 51 victories to go along with his 2009 championship.

That thus-far impossible feat might end come Nov. 17, 2012, at Homestead-Miami Speedway, as Dillon looks to one-up Busch’s record for Sunoco Rookie of the Year success. In 2004, Busch finished second in the championship standings while winning the ROY title, the top points finish ever by a ROY candidate. Dillon, a solid bet to pair a NASCAR Nationwide Sunoco Rookie of the Year award with his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series honor, is 11 points behind points leader Elliott Sadler – an ever-decreasing deficit.

It was only five races ago when Dillon stared at a hefty 43-point deficit to then-leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

His march toward the points lead continues with Friday’s Feed the Children 300 at Kentucky Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2). It will be his first start at Kentucky in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, but third overall in NASCAR national series competition. All three starts came in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, with a top finish of second last October.

“I love Kentucky Speedway,” said Dillon, who is the only driver to complete all 2,518 laps run in NASCAR Nationwide competition this season. “It’s always been a really good track for me and is one of my favorite places to visit. In my last two Camping World Truck Series races there, I was running in second-place and in position to contend for the win. We finished second last time, and the time before that, the hood flipped up and I had to make an unscheduled pit stop under green-flag conditions. That race really made me feel like I needed redemption at Kentucky Speedway.”

 

NASCAR Wire Service
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