There’s no question that Winston, Georgia’s Austin Hill is the current king of Atlanta Motor Speedway, at least in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, after another seemingly effortless win in Saturday’s Focused Health 250.
Driving the No. 21 Bennett Transportation Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, Hill once again triumphed at the 1.5-mile superspeedway, leading the final 12 laps of Saturday’s event, and defending major charges from Chandler Smith and Corey Heim on the final lap.
“The No. 81 got into [Turn 3] and had me jacked up, he’s doing what he has to do to win, very surprised the [Corey Heim] pushed me there and didn’t go with a Toyota, and then I thought I messed up into [Turns 1 and 2],” said Hill. “I hate that he got into the fence, I wasn’t trying to get him into the fence, I was trying to get him aero tight because that was happening to me all day if anybody tracked from the bottom, I would have big moments.”
For the Toyota Racing Development (TRD) drivers, those major runs and attempted passes didn’t quite pan out, which made way for a 1-2-3 finish for Chevrolet and ECR Engines.
“It was just resilience with this whole Bennett No. 21 team, our car wasn’t handling well all day — well, it had speed, I can’t say that, it had plenty of speed just the handle was tough all day, we had to dig deep for that one,” said Hill.
The victory is the ninth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for Hill, currently in his third season racing with Richard Childress Racing. Seven of those nine wins have come on drafting tracks (Daytona, Atlanta, or Talladega).
RESULTS: NASCAR Xfinity Focused Health 250 at Atlanta
Parker Kligerman attempted to make a run at Hill in the final set of corners, but washed up the racetrack, settling for a runner-up finish, with AJ Allmendinger just behind in finishing in third place.
Chandler Smith and Corey Heim, the two Toyota drivers in position to win coming to the white flag, fell back to fourth and fifth.
Polesitter Jesse Love finished in sixth after leading 23 laps in the early stages of the event, with Sammy Smith, Josh Williams, Brandon Jones, and Ryan Truex rounding out the top-10.
With only a pair of races remaining in the regular season, both the regular-season championship and battle to make the Playoffs took a major turn after a late-race accident took both Justin Allgaier and Ryan Sieg out of the event.
Allgaier leaves Atlanta with a 34-point lead on Cole Custer, who was also involved in that same accident.
Next for the NASCAR Xfinity Series is a trip to Watkins Glen International, for the second-to-last road course event of the season. Shane Van Gisbergen will look to continue his road course success, while several ringers make appearances in the field.
