Driving a heavy NASCAR stock car is hard work. Driving one without power steering is extremely challenging. Now, imagine doing that week after week. That is exactly what Ty Dillonfaces right now. His hands are paying the price. Dillon is racing with severe blisters and thick calluses.
This painful problem comes from massive behind-the-scenes drama. His race team, Kaulig Racing, lost all its factory support from Chevrolet after a major business move. During the recent race weekend at EchoPark Speedway, a TNT Sports reporter
showed the physical damage live on camera.
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"Ty, can we take a look at your hands here?" the reporter asked. "Guys, this is what it looks like as a professional race car driver when you don't have power steering for several weeks in a row."
The reporter pointed out the painful blisters. Then, he asked if the team was fixing the steering problems.
"Yeah, we are [working through it]!" Dillon said. "We work really hard, and I think it's probably two different issues right now. Sonoma, we'd still be in this in-season challenge if we wouldn't have lost power steering there. We lost it with 20 to go. That was a pretty brutal and physical challenge in itself."
He did mention, however, that the steering was a little better at EchoPark, but it still hurt. But he feels good about his car's speed.
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"The good thing is, our car has been very fast, especially our 10 team," Dillon explained. "I'd say, ever since the All-Star race at Dover, we've had really good speed. I'd say we are the 15th to 20th placed car every week. It is a matter of if we execute all the T's, cross the T's, and dot the I's. We had a good finish last week in Chicago. Hopefully, we'll do that again here."
Dillon's struggle is no accident, it stems from a manufacturer conflict. Kaulig Racing decided to run five Ram trucks in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Because Ram belongs to the Stellantis brand, Chevrolet completely dropped its factory support for Kaulig's Cup Series cars.
The split caused even more problems. Kaulig had to end its partnership with Richard Childress Racing(RCR). This has brought forward an interesting situation. Dillon is Richard Childress' grandson, but his team is now cut off from his grandfather's data, engines, and help. Kaulig CEO Chris Rice said they had to set up strict "firewalls" to keep the Chevy and Ram programs apart. Now, Kaulig must build its own Cup cars and start from scratch.
This leaves Dillon and his teammate, AJ Allmendinger, totally on their own.
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The lack of help is the reason why a simple issue has become painful. Normally, a team fixes a bad steering system right away by using data and extra engineers from their manufacturer. But without Chevy or RCR, Kaulig has to try to fix it themselves. They do not have those big factory tools, so the steering problem has dragged on for weeks. This lack of help cost Ty Dillon
a shot to advance in the $1 million In-Season Challenge at Sonoma. It is also the reason why his hands got hurt. Meanwhile, apparently, Kaulig's new deal with Ram could bring Dodge to the Cup Series soon.
Even with painful blisters, Dillon keeps racing hard. He knows how to survive in this sport. Kaulig Racing must finish this tough season alone. Until they find a real fix, Dillon will just tape up his hands and keep fighting the wheel.
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