Dillon making the most of RCR return to Truck Series

When NASCAR launched the Truck Series in 1995, Richard Childress Racing quickly emerged as one of the top teams, winning eight races and the championship in the inaugural season with driver Mike Skinner.

RCR quit truck racing at the end of 1999, however, in an effort to devote all its resources to its Cup and Nationwide programs.

The organization returned to the Truck Series this season with Austin Dillon, the grandson of team owner Richard Childress, behind the wheel of a black No. 3 truck bearing the number and colors made famous at RCR by Dale Earnhardt.

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Dillon, 20, is still learning, but he's also starting to make RCR's return to the look like a worthwhile endeavor. Despite dealing with the inconsistency typical of many rookies, Dillon, son of RCR vice president of competition Mike Dillon, has shown marked potential in 10 starts.

That was never more evident than last weekend at Texas where Dillon snared his first pole and finished a career-best third. It was his third top-10 in eight races this season.

"I think we're really starting to show what we've got," said Dillon, who enters Saturday's VFW 200 at Michigan International Speedway 11th in the standings. "We've been fast every weekend, just haven't had the finishes and this weekend [Texas] finally got the finish that we deserve. I hope we can go to Michigan -- I think we'll have a great truck for there -- and do the same thing."

Dillon would be higher in the standings if not for a couple of mishaps in back-to-back weekends at Dover and Charlotte. He finished 21st at Dover because of transmission failure and 35th at Charlotte after a loose lug nut forced him into the wall early in the race.

Dillon sits 330 points behind leader Todd Bodine with 17 races left in the season.

Is he too far behind to make a title run?

"You never say never and you never give up, and I know the trucks we're bringing to the track are immaculate," he said. "I feel like if we keep doing what we're capable of doing -- running top three, top four -- we might have a shot of getting up there and mixing it up with those guys."

Dillon said he can build on his Texas performance this weekend at Michigan, a 2-mile track that is one of seven truck venues where he has competed before. He ran second at MIS in an ARCA race in '09, when he made select ARCA and NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and West appearances.

A good day at Michigan or not, Dillon is thankful for the opportunity to compete for RCR, the company founded by his grandfather and a winner of six Cup titles with Earnhardt.

"I've been around this company forever, since I was a little baby walking around the shops and stuff," he said. "I get to see people every day that are just excited. It's like a morale booster. When anybody runs well at RCR everybody in the whole complex has just got that little extra skip in their step. And you can definitely tell this week after all the good runs we've had in all of our development programs and everything. It makes everybody want to make their stuff better."