Ty Dillon moving to Cup in 2017, will replace Casey Mears in No. 13 car
Ty Dillon is moving to Germain Racing in 2017.
The team announced Monday that Dillon would replace Casey Mears behind the wheel of the No. 13 car. Germain Racing has a technical affiliation with Richard Childress Racing. Childress is Dillon’s grandfather.
“I have been preparing for this next step in my career for several years,” Dillon said in a team statement. “With my experience in the Camping World Truck Series and Xfinity Series, I am ready to drive full-time in the Sprint Cup Series. I want to thank Bob Germain and the entire Germain Racing organization for giving me this opportunity. It will be an honor to represent a brand and sponsor like Geico which has played such a significant role in the sport for so many years.”
Dillon has made 18 Cup Series starts over the past three seasons and helped fill in for Tony Stewart in the No. 14 car at the beginning of 2016 when Stewart was sidelined because of a back injury.
He finished fifth in the Xfinity Series standings in 2016 after finishing third in 2015. Before moving full-time to the Xfinity Series in 2014, Dillon finished fourth and second in two full-time seasons in the Truck Series. His lone Xfinity win came in 2014 at Indianapolis and has won three Truck Series races.
Mears has been with Germain since joining the team during the 2010 season. He has five top-10 finishes with the team and one top-five finish, a fourth at Daytona in July of 2014.
He finished 28th in the 2016 standings and had an average finish of 25.6. He hasn’t announced any plans for 2017.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
