On a warm July day in 2020 at Texas Motor Speedway, Austin Dillon pulled into Victory Lane and silenced his critics. Driving the iconic No. 3 car, once made legendary by Dale Earnhardt in NASCAR, he held off teammate Tyler Reddick to win the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500. The win didn’t just mean another trophy. It was a statement. Dillon turned to the cameras and smiled, “Not bad for a silver spoon kid, huh?”

Critics had long labelled him as a driver who got his break because of his last name and grandfather. But that day in Texas, he flipped the script. Austin wasn’t just driving for Richard Childress Racing. He was carrying a legacy. “This has been coming. We’ve had good cars all year. I’ve got my baby Ace back home, my wife. I’m just so happy,” he further added. The victory felt like validation, a rare moment when the spotlight didn’t come with shadows.

His grandfather, Richard Childress, once again looked like a man who had made the right call by putting family in the No. 3, but fast-forward to 2025, and the noise is back—and louder than ever. Only this time, it’s not just about Austin’s performance but also about his younger brother, Ty Dillon. Ty continues to outperform expectations in Kaulig Racing’s No. 10, and fans are now asking a question that has lingered for over a decade: Did Richard Childress back the wrong grandson?