Can Richard Childress Racing’s Veteran Driver Three-Peat the 2026 Richmond Cup Series Race?
Austin Dillon has been on a roll at Richmond, winning the August race in both 2024 and 2025. In 2024, Dillon’s win was surrounded by controversy. He dumped Joey Logano in turn four and Denny Hamlin on the front straightaway to win, which led NASCAR to revoke his playoff spot. Richard Childress’ grandson followed it up with a dominating win in 2025, this time cleanly. Dillon has turned Richmond into one of his dominant tracks, which begs the question: will he three-peat in 2026?
Dillon has been mid-pack for most of 2026. He sits 27th in the points after 23 races and has three top 10s, coming off of a 10th-place finish last weekend at Iowa. RCR as a whole has had a rough year. Their other driver, Kyle Busch, passed away tragically in May, and Austin Hill has only one top 10 finish this year since he took over for Busch. Additionally, Spire Motorsports' unexpected emergence as an elite threat has buried Dillon and the rest of RCR at the bottom of Chevy’s totem pole.
The driver of Dale Sr’s iconic three car has the opportunity to score a monumental win for the organization this weekend. Not only will this be a three-peat for Dillon, but it will also be RCR’s first win since ‘Rowdy’ passed away. The 13-year veteran is nearly eliminated from Chase contention, so the effort at this point is solely focused on winning races and not stacking up points.
Who are some threats that Dillon will have to go against? The driver that comes to mind first is the previously mentioned Logano. The three-time Champion has been extremely good on short tracks lately, winning at North Wilkesboro and coming back from a vibration to finish 14th at Iowa after running up front. Logano has two career wins and 16 top-fives at Richmond. With a Chase spot on the line, Logano will be a force to be reckoned with.
A second driver who will likely be a threat to Dillon’s three-peat is Ty Gibbs. The 54 Camry got his two wins this season at Bristol and Iowa, two short tracks. Richmond is nearly the same layout as Iowa, so just some small adjustments to Gibbs’ Iowa car to run with less banking, and he already has a race-winning car. Gibbs is battling the 11 Camry of Hamlin for the regular-season championship, just another incentive for a victory. A battle between Dillon and ‘Lil baby Gibbs’ for the win at Richmond is a likely outcome. Dillon’s race for a three-peat will be on Saturday, August 15th at 7:00 p.m. EST.
