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Austin Hill, RCR Remain Drafting Kings at Talladega

Austin Hill, RCR Remain Drafting Kings at Talladega
Photo Credit to Peter Stratta/TSJSports

NASCAR

Austin Hill Sweeps Season at Talladega, Takes 10th Xfinity Superspeedway Win

TALLADEGA, Ala. – Austin Hill remains King of the Hill on superspeedways, pulling off a 2025 season sweep from Talladega. Despite being eliminated from Playoff contention on the Driver’s Championship side, the 21 was as strong as ever on the Alabama high banks. Richard Childress Racing now has a shot at the Owner’s Title in two weeks, after Hill took home a fourth win of 2025.

Carnage started early with a 10-car pileup unfolding on lap 13. Jeb Burton skid up the track into the path of Brandon Jones, taking out many innocent bystanders including contender Sheldon Creed. Superspeedway ace and April Talladega winner Austin Hill would take Stage 1 a few laps later. Hill would go onto sweep both stages.

Once Hill regained command in Stage 3, there was very little anyone could do to challenge the 21. Lap upon lap ticked by with Hill being the locomotive on a 180-mile-an-hour freight train at Talladega, until chaos unfolded again. With two laps left Aric Almirola spun off the nose of Sammy Smith, nearly flipping his Toyota out of turn two. This incident sent the race into overtime with fuel concerns aplenty.

Hill opted to not pit even with low fuel pressure, while many others did come in. The 21 had enough gas in the tank to hang onto earn a record 10th Xfinity Series superspeedway win. This only pads Hill’s already stout drafting résumé.

“Honestly I really wasn’t that nervous,” Hill said on his fuel situation. “As soon a my crew chief Chad (Haney) said that we should have at least two and a half gallons I knew I was saving fuel leading. But we slowed the pace down a lot leading the pack. Nobody was really making a move, so I was like ‘well, if we get a late race caution I may as well keep saving here.’ So I thought that we were gonna be close but still make it. I started having fuel pressure issues like some of the others. I dropped down to the apron and immediately came back up. That was one reason I chose the bottom, but the bottom had been good all day.”

“Man I can’t thank all these guys enough on this 21 team. Our Bennett Chevrolet was fast all day. Everybody at RCR, ECR Engines are always strong when we come here. I wouldn’t want to have anything else under the hood. With how the last part of my season has went, with everything that’s went on, getting knocked out of the Playoffs. I knew I was still in the Owner’s Championship. That’s one thing I want to do for Richard Childress is get him that championship if I can’t get him a driver’s title. So special, always fun to be on these superspeedways and win here at Talladega back-to-back. That’s something really cool.”

Behind Hill at the checkers were the JR Motorsports duo of Carson Kvapil and Justin Allgaier. Kvapil vaults above the Playoff cut line while Allgaier locks himself into Phoenix. Christian Eckes and underdog Caesar Bacarella rounded out the top-five. The rest of the top-10 were: Blaine Perkins, Parker Retzlaff, Leland Honeyman, Sammy Smith, and Jesse Love. Hear from a few of these drivers below.

Hill takes up a spot in the Owner’s Championship 4, meanwhile Allgaier and Connor Zilisch both clinch Driver’s title berths. Heading into next week’s elimination race, two final spots remain up for grabs.

Those last two title berths will be decided after a surely chaotic race at Martinsville Speedway. The IAA and Ritchie Bros. 250 goes green Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET on The CW, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. This race especially always sees high drama and tempers, 2025 has the chance to only continue this trend.

Written by Peter Stratta

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Photo Credit to Peter Stratta/TSJSports

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