Austin Dillon’s 2018 season recap

The 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season marked Austin Dillon's fifth full-time season driving the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Beginning with a Daytona 500 win and ending with a crew chief reunion, see highlights from Dillon's year.

Dillon kicked off his 2018 season with a bucket-list Daytona 500 win at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 18. Using a last-lap bump on Aric Almirola, Dillon took the lead on the final lap -- the only lap he led in the race -- to clinch his second Monster Energy Series victory of his young career.

Dillon's victory at Daytona was special for Richard Childress Racing because it marked 20 years since Dale Earnhardt first drove the No. 3 to Victory Lane in "The Great American Race." Fittingly, Dillon and his brother Ty were in Victory Lane with Earnhardt that day in 1998, making Dillon's 2018 Daytona 500 win more meaningful.

Less than a week after his Daytona 500 win, Dillon climbed into a truck to compete in a single-race Camping World Truck Series event at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He finished 10th in the Saturday event, following it up with a 14th-place result in the Monster Energy Series race the next day.

Dillon nabbed his second NASCAR victory of 2018 on June 9, when he won the Xfinity Series race at Michigan International Speedway. The Richard Childress Racing driver led 18 of the final 20 laps to secure the checkered flag, marking his ninth Xfinity Series victory of his career.

Austin Dillon paid tribute to Dale Earnhardt and RCR's past with his Darlington paint scheme hearkening back to the 1995 NASCAR All-Star Race. The team kept the paint scheme secret until it was rolled off the truck at the track.

His victory at Daytona punching his ticket, Dillon advanced to the NASCAR Playoffs for the third straight season. He was eliminated in the Round of 16 after sustaining race-ending damage to his No. 3 Chevrolet during the Sept. 30 elimination event at the Charlotte Road Course.

Richard Childress Racing announced on Nov. 26 that Danny Stockman would serve as Dillon's crew chief beginning in 2019. The two have history together; they won the 2011 Camping World Truck Series championship and 2013 Xfinity Series title as a unit.

In addition to his Daytona 500 victory, Dillon doubled his top-10 count from 2017, earning eight top-10 finishes by the end of the 2018 season. He notched four of those finishes in the final nine races of the season. Dillon also nearly doubled his laps led amount from 2017, bringing his career laps led count to over 100. He finished the year ranked 13th in the series standings.