2020 Cup Series Season Preview: Ty Dillon

By David Morgan, Associate Editor

Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season for the full-time drivers in the series leading into February’s running of the Daytona 500.

Age: 27

Years in Cup: Four

Career Wins: One Xfinity Series win, Three Truck Series wins

When it comes to some of the smaller teams in the garage area, year over year improvement is one of the biggest goals for all involved. For Germain Racing and Ty Dillon, it was mission accomplished in 2019 as they had one of their best seasons yet in the three years they have been together.

After scoring just one top-10 in all of 2018, Dillon claimed his first Cup Series top-five last season with a fourth place finish at the July Daytona race, along with a top-10 finish in the Daytona 500 and the fall race at Talladega. Suffice to say, the superspeedways were kind to the No. 13 team last year.

Aside from the top-10 finishes, Dillon claimed nine top-15 finishes, and 16 top-20 finishes, including stage wins at Bristol and Talladega.

“2019 for our GEICO team was a strong year, a big year of improvement. We were able to knock off some great milestones for Germain Racing and GEICO, winning two stages in the year and going hand-in-hand in the points with our technical alliance partners,” Dillon said.

“I’m very proud of the effort that went into the offseason, with changing shops. All the men and women at the shop had so much to do, and did it with sustained success and actually growth within our race team.”

Heading into 2020, Dillon is back for his fourth year with the team and will have crew chief Matt Borland back on top of the pit box for another season. Last season was the first for the pair working together. The only noticeable change comes from the spotter stand with Chris Monez taking over for Billy O’Dea in that position.

Using last season as a benchmark, expect Dillon and Germain Racing to perform much the same in 2020 and maybe add a few additional trips into the top-15 as the season plays out.

“I can’t wait until 2020 and I know this team is going to continue to grow,” Dillon continued. “Our performance at mile-and-a-half’s has gotten stronger and stronger as Matt Borland and I’s communication continues to grow and the team continues to strengthen. I’m excited for what’s to come in the future and look forward to getting even better, running higher in the points week in and week out.”