by HAMPTON, Ga. — Taking the lead for the first time on lap 152 of 163 of Saturday’s Focused Health 250, Austin Hill held on the lead the rest of the way to win his fourth NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, his home track.
The 30-year-old from Winston, Georgia, earned his third victory of the season and won both races in Atlanta. Seven of Hill’s nine career wins have come on draft-type tracks.
“I’m speechless right now,” Hill said in Victory Lane. “Our Bennett Chevrolet was fast all day, but the handling just wasn’t there like I wanted it to be. You come to these superspeedway-type events and you want to have a well-tuned car. You don’t worry too much about handling.”
“But I thought handling was going to be an issue, and that certainly played a role today. We made some good moves at the right time between my spotter, Derek Kneeland, and I. We moved up to second and on the restart (on lap 150) I was like, ‘Am I going up or down?’
“We both agreed that we had to go down there and try to take the lead, and if that didn’t work, so be it.”
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Hill got help from an unexpected source. He said he was surprised to get a decisive final-lap push from Toyota driver Corey Heim, who was making his first Xfinity Series start on a superspeedway.
Toyota driver Chandler Smith was equally surprised and frustrated. Smith dropped down in an attempt to pass Hill on the final lap and briefly passed the front bumper of Hill’s No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Heim stayed with Hill at the top.
“I was expecting my Toyota teammate to come with me, but he didn’t,” said Smith, who ultimately finished fourth in the No. 81 Joe Gibbs Racing Supra. “I’m kind of speechless.”
Heim, who finished fifth behind Smith, believed his best chance of winning the race was to stay with Hill.
“He (Smith) had no run or momentum, so why go deep?” Heim said.
After pushing Hill past Smith, Heim attempted a pass at the top of the track but grazed the outside wall and lost momentum. Parker Kligerman passed Heim for second, followed by AJ Allmendinger.
Hill beat Kligerman to the finish line by 0.340 seconds, with Allmendinger in third, just 0.004 seconds behind Kligerman.
“Congratulations to Austin Hill, he owns this place,” said Kligerman, who matched his career-best finish in the series.
MORE: Xfinity Series Schedule | Xfinity Series Standings
A multi-car crash on Lap 145 dramatically changed the course of the race. Contact between the cars of Justin Allgaier and Cole Custer triggered a six-car crash that involved the machines of Taylor Gray, Ryan Sieg, Riley Herbst and pole winner Jesse Love.
The crash was particularly damaging to Sieg, who is chasing Sammy Smith for the final playoff spot in the 12-driver Xfinity Series.
Sieg was in the top 10 after making up a two-lap deficit – the result of an electrical problem in the early laps – when the crash occurred. He moved from 10 to 44 points behind Smith, who overcame a pit lane safety violation penalty to finish seventh.
The incident sidelined Allgaier and Custer, who are battling for the regular-season championship. Allgaier maintains a 34-point lead over the defending series champion, but Smith (67 points back) and Hill (71 points) now have chances to overtake the leader.
NOTE: Post-race inspection was completed without incident in the Xfinity Series garage, confirming Austin Hill’s victory. The Nos. 26 and 31 cars will be headed to the NASCAR Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C., for further evaluation.
