by HAMPTON, Ga. (AP) — Austin Hill won the Xfinity Series season at his home track of Atlanta Motor Speedway as the Georgia native continued to excel under the venue’s reconfiguration.
Since switching to the drafting track configuration in 2022, Hill has won three of the five Xfinity races at Atlanta. The other two winners, Cup Series regulars Ty Gibbs and John Hunter Nemechek, were not in Saturday’s race.
“There was a lot of speed, we had to dig deep for this win,” said Hill, who won in a Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. He gave his post-race interview holding his young son, who was wearing a Georgia Bulldogs T-shirt.
“It’s Barrett,” Hill introduced his son as the young man kept interrupting, “Dad, you win.”
“And he’s wild,” Hill continued.
It was the third win of the season for Hill, who started the race with back-to-back Xfinity races at Daytona and Atlanta but didn’t win again until Saturday. Hill led once, for the final 21 laps of the race.
Parker Kligerman finished second and AJ Allmendinger third in a podium sweep for Chevrolet.
Chandler Smith and Corey Heim finished fourth and fifth for Toyota, and Smith was angry that he wasn’t more selfish and waited for Heim to help. Instead, as Hill and Smith battled for the lead late in the race, Heim worked with Hill and pushed him past Smith for the win.
Lawless Alan, 13th, was the highest-placed Ford driver.
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AP Auto Racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
