Austin Dillon Helps Kick Off Month Of Racing At Charlotte
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| The NASCAR All Star trophy was on display in front of the uprights erected on pit road |
| Pete McCole/AR1 |
NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Austin Dillon helped Charlotte Motor Speedway "kick off" the "10 Days of Thunder" with a little field-goal kicking contest with defending NFC Champion Carolina Panthers placekicker Graham Gano.
With an assist from Charlotte Motor Speedway mascot Lugnut, Dillon and Gano traded kicks on a specially constructed 45-yard kicking green set up on pit road, while later Dillon took Gano on ride-along around the 1.5-mile track.
Fresh from his third-place finish in Sunday’s crash-filled GEICO 500 at Talladega and with an expert hold from Gano, Dillon managed to boot a 45-yarder smack dab into the banner stretched between the uprights.
Dillon – a dedicated Carolina Panthers fan – admitted kicking field goals isn’t as easy as it looks.
"It was a blast," Dillon said. "I love football and I'm a huge fan of Graham and the entire Panthers team. It was fun kicking field goals with him. His position is such a mental position, because you've got to go in front of so many fans who are looking at you to make that kick. He does it so often."
After a few practice kicks and taking a few turns holding the ball for Gano’s kicks, Dillon laced up using a pair of cleats Gano had used in Super Bowl 50, to try his own turn at knocking one through the uprights.
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| Graham Geno boots a field goal with a hold from Austin Dillon |
| CMS/HHP photo |
On his third attempt, Dillon kicked one right down the middle – a kick that would have been good from better than 45 yards.
"Graham made kicking a lot easier," said Dillon. "He had me pretty calm and was teaching me – he was going easy on me."
"He (Dillon) got better as he went on," said Gano. "We thought we were going to have a little more time to warm up – he was thrown right into it and he did a good job. Once I kind of told him what we were looking for, he did a good job.
Charlotte Motor Speedway President and General Manager Marcus Smith was on hand to present Gano with a personalized racing helmet featuring the Coca Cola 600 logo, which Gano later put on for his ride around the speedway.
"(Dillon) got to wear these (cleats), the ones I wore in the Super Bowl, so he was pretty pumped up about that," said Gano. "He was talking about trading a helmet (for the cleats) and I said that sounds good. I don’t know if we can trade a racecar for a pair of cleats, I don’t think that would be a fair trade."
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| Dillon took Gano for a few hot laps around Charlotte Motor Speedway |
| CMS/HHP photo |
After the kicking exhibition, Gano strapped in and rode shotgun in a NASCAR Racing Experience stock car with Dillon behind the wheel for a few hot laps around the track, giving the 2015 NFC scoring leader a taste of what the view is like for a racecar driver on Sunday afternoons.
"I couldn't believe it," said Gano. "I've never gone that fast. I can't even find the words. I was trying to get it all on camera, but I was like, 'I need to put my hand down and just enjoy this.'"
Wednesday’s event was the first in the lead-up to two weeks of racing events to be held at Charlotte Motor Speedway and the adjoining dirt track across the street from the property.
The "10 Days of Thunder" starts on May 20 with Sprint Showdown and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event, followed by the NASCAR All Star Race on May 21st. The following week kicks off with Pole Night on Thursday May 26, followed by the World of Outlaws sprint cars Friday night at The Dirt Track then the NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Saturday at the speedway. The week culminates with the 57th-running of the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday, May 29th.
Dillon will be making his third start in NASCAR’s longest race, where he has a career-best finish of seventh in last year’s event
"This (the Coca Cola 600) is a premiere race, it’s one of our gems. It has a lot of prestige," said Dillon. "I love it because this is my home track, I’m one of only three Cup drivers from North Carolina, so this is one place I love to come to."
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| (L-R) Austin Dillon, Marcus Smith and Graham Gano |
| Pete McCole/AR1 |
Dillon’s third-place finish in Sunday race at Talladega was his best ever finish at the track in the Cup Series, made even more remarkable by the fact he came back after being involved in four separate incidents on the track and falling back a lap down in 32nd– place, ending the day with a car that look like it had been through a Saturday night late model race at the local dirt track.
"The biggest thing I took from that was teamwork, and the never-give-up-attitude," Dillon said. "If we would have had a penalty or made a mistake in the pits, we wouldn’t have been able to come home with the finish that we did in that race. Just staying in the game and never giving up – it’s really a good story.
"Body-wise – there’s nothing left on that car we can use again. Everyone has been asking for pieces off that car, so they’ll be a lot of sheet metal around to our sponsors and partners. Dow has already asked for the hood to show off as an example of teamwork."
Dillon said today’s experience gave him a new appreciation of how intense the position of placekicker can be, almost as intense as being a racecar driver.
"Now that I’ve done this, I’ll take a different perspective when (Gano) goes out to kick and I’m watching him – I’ll be praying for him every time he goes out there to make that kick," said Dillon. "I can’t even imagine just trying to get your heartrate down enough to hold the ball and just relax. It’s got to be an intense feeling, especially in front of so many die-hard fans like me."
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