NFL Star Christian McCaffrey Sports the No. 3 Cap in Support of NASCAR Star Austin Dillon

Published 01/06/2021, 5:00 AM EST

Although sports stars excel in their own sport, they do acknowledge other sports as well. In fact, lots of athletes are big fans of other sports and sometimes even participate in them for the fun of it.

The same principle applies in American sports as well. Recently, Carolina Panthers player, Christian McCaffrey sported the no. 3 cap in support of NASCAR star Austin Dillon, during a press conference.

Love the hat @CMC_22 👏@austindillon3 👀 pic.twitter.com/siOGM4fW1O
— RCR (@RCRracing) January 4, 2021

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The two have shared a great relationship since 2017 when the Panthers recruited McCaffrey. In fact, their friend group was fondly dubbed the ‘wolf pack,’ complete with matching tattoos. The NFL star also inspired Austin Dillon to change his diet.

“I hit him up when he was at Stamford because I was a fan watching him run these crazy 100-yard runs that no one could tackle him,” Dillon said.

“Getting close to the NFL draft time, I hit him up on DM (direct message) and said, ‘Hey man, I think you’re going to get drafted by the Panthers. I feel it.’”

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What is Austin Dillon looking forward to in the 2021 NASCAR season?

When the 2021 season kicks off, Christian McCaffrey will be sure to cheer on Austin Dillon. The two athletes have massive respect for each other and have motivated each other. McCaffrey has also attended a couple of NASCAR races in order to support his good friend.

For obvious reasons, this was all long before the times of COVID, when things were much simpler. Apparently, one of the races he went to was the All-Star race. At that race, when Dillon and Jamie McMurray tangled, the NFL star was all ready to throw some fists.

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Dillon has a relatively decent 2020 campaign, taking his third career win in the Cup Series. He also equaled his best finish of 11th in the championship. All this was in spite of missing out on one race due to a positive coronavirus test. Now, the Richard Childress Racing driver will be keen to add a few more wins to his belt and improve on 11th.

Austin Dillon to Make Rolex 24 Debut with RWR Eurasia, Joins Chase Elliott and Jimmie Johnson in the Field

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.