Austin Dillon’s Daytona 500 pit-crew member joined the army after the Great American Race and returns for Atlanta Cup Series action

As an important part of Austin Dillon’s pit crew, Tyler Rader reached the peak of glory with the legendary win at the 2018 Daytona 500. However, his life changed dramatically when he decided to join the 75th Ranger Regiment of the U.S. Army in 2019. Rader has now finished his army career and came back to NASCAR, joining Dillon at Richard Childress Racing.

The story was shared by NBC Sports writer Dustin Long on X (formerly Twitter):

"After winning a Daytona 500 as a pit crew member with @austindillon3, Tyler Rader left #NASCAR to join the @USArmy and became a member of the 75th Ranger Regiment. He's back from active duty and has returned to @RCRracing and pit road."

While serving on Dillon’s team for five years, Rader made a notable contribution to their success, including the 2013 Xfinity Series championship and the win at Daytona.

According to NBC Sports, Tyler Rader’s life changed when a special forces member showed up on the team one day. The special forces member was doubtful that the pit crew members could complete the same hard military training that he had undergone. That made Rader realize that if he ever wanted to pursue a military career, it had to be then, or the chance might slip by. He said:

"I feel like everyone should serve in some capacity. I just felt like I needed to answer that call.”

But now that Rader is back at NASCAR, there is a lot of work to be done. Austin Dillon is off to a difficult start in the 2024 NASCAR season with crashes in the first two races. At the Atlanta race most recently, Dillon encountered another setback. On Lap 2 of the Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway on February 25, there was a crash that trapped 16 drivers including Austin Dillon.

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Austin Dillon reflects on tough 2023 season, aims for strong 2024

Before the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season kicked off, Austin Dillon reflected on the struggles of last year and shared his expectations for the new season in an interview with Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports.

"Last year was a struggle. After Martinsville (...) we had a lot of wrecks and different things happen, more DNF's I think than I've ever had in my career," Dillon said.

The 33-year-old hopes to turn things around in 2024.

"The biggest thing for us is just to try to bump up there a couple more spots, because litteraly the way it works is if you're in the top 10 and you have a good pit stop in those races, you can win," he concluded.