HAMPTON (AP) — For Ty Dillon, racing is the family business.
Now, he has the first big NASCAR win of his career.
The 20-year-old Dillon passed Kyle Busch with six laps to go and pulled away for a Truck victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Friday night.
"It's such a relief to finally get my first NASCAR win," said Dillon, who was racing for the 17th time in trucks and also has two starts in the Nationwide series. "My whole life has revolved around NASCAR. My whole dream was to win a race in NASCAR and maybe one day become a champion. I accomplished one of my goals tonight. It feels great."
He's the younger brother of last year's Camping World Truck Series champion, Austin Dillon, and grandson of NASCAR team owner Richard Childress. All three celebrated in Victory Lane.
"He's got the drive and spirit of a winner," Childress said. "I couldn't be more proud from a grandfather standpoint, but I'm also proud of the way he raced, the way he searched for the groove to race on until he found it. He looked like a pro who's been doing it for a while."
Childress recalled how both grandsons were involved with the sport from a young age, getting a chance to observe drivers such as the late Dale Earnhardt.
"They came up in the sport when they were just little kids running around the track," Childress said. "You didn't think they were paying much attention. They were just having fun and playing like kids. But they were really watching how someone like Dale Earnhardt carried himself, the respect he had for the sport. I'm really proud of what they've accomplished."
Busch appeared to be in command with the race winding down, running several truck lengths ahead of the field. But Dillon quickly closed the gap and passed the 30-time Truck winner going into turn one. Busch banged the wall hard a couple of times trying to keep up, damaging his truck and causing him to slow considerably.
After starting from the pole, Dillon won the Jeff Foxworthy's Grits Chips 200 by 3.227 seconds. Busch was second, followed by James Buescher.
Racing for the first time in the series since last season, Busch said he never had a chance. Dillon simply had the faster machine.
"He was that much better," Busch said. "They had a lot better handling on the bottom of the track than we did."
Busch tried to go high, but that didn't leave him enough room when his truck got loose.
"When you get sideways up there, you get into the fence," he said. "There's no room to catch it up there. We did all we could do to push as hard as we could. But we didn't have anything to hold on to."
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