NASCAR
RCR Remains Perfect in Xfinity Series After Hill Atlanta Threepeat
HAMPTON, Ga. – Coming into the Bennett 250 from Atlanta Motor Speedway, all eyes were on Austin Hill. The Winston, Georgia native had four Peach State triumphs in his last five trips here, and was looking for a third-straight win. Hill left little doubt to the modern day Xfinity drafting king title, leading all but 18 laps. Even with having to battle back on the last lap, the 21 was on top yet again in Georgia.
In similar vein to Daytona last week, Hill swept both stages and was the dominant force from the start. Hill’s only true competition was the two Haas cars paired together, but even they eventually fell back.
Following a late debris caution, Hill lined up against Justin Allgaier with three laps to go. Aric Almirola initially led at the white flag by a nose, but lost all drafting help into turn one. A large wreck ensued behind the leaders, but no yellow was ever thrown. This allowed Hill to cruise uncontested to his most dominant Atlanta win yet. Hill also eclipsed the Xfinity Series all-time drafting lap leader title, passing Dale Earnhardt Jr. on this list.
“This Bennett Chevrolet was as fast as Xfinity Mobile, it’s the Bennett 250, we have over 500 people here, men, women, you name it, to be able to do this is something special,” Hill said. “we were able to do this last year with the gold car for their 50th anniversary. It looks like to me they need to sponsor more Xfinity races. This has been a good omen for us. I am so excited. I saw the trophy but didn’t want to touch it, to jinx anything up in the suite earlier. They were giving me some pressure. I gave it all I got. I want to give a huge shoutout to everyone at RCR, ECR Engines, Chad Haney, first win as a crew chief. That’s cool for him. Him and I have been working our tails off this offseason, we think we’ll work great together. We’re going to soak this one up, drink a lot of beer, and get ready for the next race.”
Behind Hill at the line were: Justin Allgaier, Aric Almirola, Sammy Smith, and Nick Sanchez. Jeb Burton, Daniel Dye, Leland Honeyman, William Sawalich, and Harrison Burton rounded out the top-10. Hear from a few of these drivers below.
RCR has the unique distinction of locking up both possible Playoff spots in the first two races. Hill and Love will both try and remain undefeated next week at Circuit of the Americas (COTA). The green flag flies Saturday at 2:30 p.m. ET on The CW, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. The Focused Health 250 saw Hill mixing it up for the win last year; can the 21 contend again?
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credits to Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
