Austin Dillon 2016 Review
By Richard Tix
Season Grade: B
Season Preview: "I'm not sure that expectations should go up for Austin Dillon with him still being at RCR and really not showing much reason for hope in 2015. However, I think the pressure will start to mount for him in his third year. I still expect the same type of season for Austin, though. 1-2 top 5's, and 4-6 top 10's will be the floor for him, anything less and it is another disappointment."
Season Review: Let's start here, 2016 was anything but a disappointment. AD finally started to show a bit more of an all around performance while having his best season of his short career. Dillon scored career high's in top 5's (four), top 10's (13), poles (two), and average finish (15.9).
Most importantly, AD was the lone RCR car to make the Chase after getting in on points. He cut out most of his poor finishes (only seven finishes outside the top 25) while notching 21 top 15's and 27 top 20's. A lot of his performance can be linked to a career best starting position of 14th (on average), which helped him early on with consistency.
Considering he was the best of the RCR bunch, he really should be getting some credit for how his season went as a whole. He still has work to do, but he finally flashes a bit more of that potential that had been lacking in the top series so far.
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