Regardless of his placement at the Dixie Vodka 400 on Sunday, NASCAR driver, Austin Dillon came away this weekend as a winner. His wife, Whitney Dillon, gave birth to their first child, Ace RC Dillon, and the new father could not wait to get home after the race to see his wife and newborn son.
It was questionable as to whether Austin would even be racing this past weekend. With his wife going into labor just before race day, his teammate, AJ Allmendinger was on standby if Austin was not able to make it. However, with Whitney and Ace still being in the hospital, the new mom encouraged the professional driver to go race for his team. So, leaving his wife and new baby, which Austin called the "hardest thing" he ever had to do, Austin went to the Homestead-Miami Speedway to race for Richard Childress Racing.
While Austin did not come in first like he wanted to, to be able to bring home a trophy to little Ace, he did manage to place in the Top 10, which is what all racers would like to be able to accomplish, with or without having been up for several hours helping their wife through labor. And fortunately, the commute home was not far from Florida to North Carolina, so Austin was able to be with Whitney and Ace shortly after the race.
The couple announced in December that their family was expanding from a party of two to a party of three. The announcement was made via Instagram after the duo had some adorable photos taken at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. In the photos, Austin wore a jacket that said, "Daddy," while Whitney wore one that said, "Mama." Between the two of them, a jacket was held that said, "Baby" that had Austin's racing number 3 underneath the little one's title.
Since the announcement of Whitney expecting, her Instagram page has been filled with updates as far as how large their baby was, what the gender of the couple's baby was via a gender reveal party, and the announcement of baby Ace's name from the then mother-to-be. Unfortunately, the first-time-mother was not able to have a baby shower as a result of the coronavirus, but she still managed to find the essentials that she needed for delivery day and shared some of those favorite things on her Instagram stories as well.
Now that race day is over, Austin has a few days to soak up some family time with his wife and son. Then it is back out on the road on June 20 to race at Talladega. With NASCAR pushing to get all of the races in that were missed as a result of the coronavirus, the next few months are likely going to be busy for racers like Austin. There is no doubt, however, that the new dad will do his best to make it home the same day a race concludes as much as possible to be with his young family.
Source: ESPN