RELATED: GEICO extends relationship with Germain Racing, Dillon's contract extended
RICHMOND, Va. -- For Ty Dillon, knowing his future is secure is invaluable at a place that has felt like home from Day 1. On Tuesday, Germain Racing announced that it has extended Ty Dillon's contract. The announcement was made in conjunction with the news that the team's longtime sponsor GEICO was extending its relationship with the organization and the No. 13 Chevrolet. Germain’s technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing will continue as well and include the use of ECR Engines. "It's very exciting to have a multiyear agreement with such a great company," Dillon told NASCAR.com between Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice sessions on Friday at Richmond Raceway. "Right away I felt very at home at Germain Racing. Everybody here starting from Bob (Germain, owner) to Larry Rogers (general manager) and Bootie (Barker, crew chief). Everybody who makes everything go at this company has made me feel at home. It's been a great mesh so far and we've done really well. We know where we can improve and we know we are going to improve." There had been speculation from the day Paul Menard's move to Wood Brothers Racing was announced in July that Ty could shift to RCR and be teammates with older brother Austin and Ryan Newman. "Staying at Germain was always my plan from the day I signed with them originally," Dillon said. "I want to make this my home. I want to make this my career. I hope to race here forever and win championships and win races and always be known as the driver of the No. 13 GEICO Chevy."While fellow Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidates Erik Jones and Daniel Suarez have gotten a bit more of the rookie buzz, Dillon's season thus far in the No. 13 Chevrolet has been solid. He was in contention late in May at Dover and led 27 laps in that race. Dillon also found himself up front for the last restart at the Coke Zero 400 in July at Daytona. More recently, he notched a 13th-place finish at Darlington, a track notoriously tough on rookie drivers. That result helps sets the tone for the final third of the season for Dillon.
"Just building momentum off that where we start getting comfortable running inside the top 10 and top 15," Dillon said of his strong run at the track 'Too Tough To Tame.' "When you do that, your results will get better and better when you adjust your whole weekend around what it takes to run in that segment of drivers and teams. When you know what it takes week in and week out, you become more consistent and you set your goals to the next level." The 25-year-old has boosted the team's performance with 16 top 20-finishes through the first 25 races this season. For the entire 2016 season, the No. 13 team with driver Casey Mears had just six top 20-finishes. Improving on unloading with speed and qualifying are near the top of Dillon's agenda over the course of the final 11 races of 2017. "We always seem to race really well and the only thing holding us back is that we take so long in these races to get to where we should be running and sometimes you can't be that far off at some of these race tracks because the leaders are coming so fast," Dillon said. "If we can get to where we can qualify constantly in the top 18, I think that we will really, really take the next step as a team."