NASCAR
Austin Hill Takes Third Straight Daytona Xfinity February Win
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Late Monday night, Austin Hill proved that he is still the Xfinity Series’ top dog in superspeedway races. The No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro took its third consecutive win in the season opening race.
Hill retook command late after restarting 22nd following a flat tire. The 21 methodically worked its way forward though, and thanks to a few well-timed cautions also caught a few lucky breaks. On the final restart with three laps left, Hill quickly went from third to the top spot. At the checkered flag, Hill led former teammate Sheldon Creed by half a second.
“It tops it off—three-peat,” Hill said. “You know how hard it is to win at Daytona? God almighty!”
Hill’s race was far from a flawlessly executed night, however. Team 21 did suffer early setbacks, including an early wreck, a flat tire and a mistake-filled day on pit road.
The 21 took the checkers with a heavily taped up right front, but none of these many challenges could keep Hill from flexing his superspeedway prowess once again.
“I don’t know what was going on with me on pit road today,” Hill said. “But my guys just kept telling me, ‘Look, man, dig deep; you’re really good at these superspeedways.’ I tried to screw it up on pit road—sped on pit road, slid through the box…”
“I don’t even know what time it is. I know it’s past my bedtime, but we’re about to party tonight, I can tell you that.”
Hill was only one point shy of a perfect race, finishing second in Stage 1 to teammate Jesse Love. Making his Xfinity Series debut, the No. 2 led Stage 1’s entirety before a wreck caused him to finish 20th. 32 laps led by Love were a race-high mark, and the most by a driver in their Xfinity Series debut since Kurt Busch at Texas in 2006.
Parker Retzlaff was third, one spot in front of his team owner, Jordan Anderson. Chandler Smith came home fifth, followed by Riley Herbst, John Hunter Nemechek, Justin Allgaier, Brandon Jones and AJ Allmendinger.
In total now, five of Austin Hill’s seven career Xfinity Series wins have come on drafting tracks. Hill has another chance to add onto this total next week when Xfinity returns to his home track, Atlanta Motor Speedway. The Raptor King of Tough 250 goes green at 5 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. Will Hill remain atop the Xfinity Series heap, or will his title as superspeedway ace be taken by another hungry driver?
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to Chris Graythen/Getty Images
