Austin Hill started the Xfinity Series season strong with a win at Daytona and followed it up by finding victory lane in Las Vegas. And now in Atlanta, his home track, the series points leader dominated to win Saturday’s RAPTOR King of the Tough 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
And he won it in dominating fashion, leading a race-high 103 laps, holding on despite the 12 cautions, an Atlanta record. The final one came as Hill raced Daniel Hemric and Parker Kligerman. Kligerman ended up sideways off the Hemric’s bumper, making contact with the right-rear of Hill as well.
“I have no idea how I saved it coming to the line,” said Hill, who ended up winning by .085 seconds. “What a start to the season. Everybody at Richard Childress Racing, ECR engines—we’ve just had such a fast start with Chevrolet. This has been special, for sure.”
Kligerman ended up fourth, after also being beaten to the line – by just .001 seconds – by Ryan Truex. Despite the disappointing finish to come out of a race for the lead, he still managed to give his Big Machine Racing team its first-ever stage win in the second stage.
“They knew we were here,” Kligerman told the team over the radio.
As for third-place finisher Ryan Truex, he just pressed his advantage.
“I saw cars wrecking and I just didn’t lift,” he said. “I saw a lane, but if it was like Talladega and the start-finish line was down there, I probably would have won. That’s racing. It was a crazy race. I didn’t expect it to be the way it was.”
“All in all,” Truex concluded, “it was a good day. Glad we brought home another good finish.”
In the first two stages combined, the race featured more caution laps than green-flag laps—49 to 31, to be exact—the result of nine yellow flags.
Most notably, Josh Williams sustained damage in a lap 27 accident with Weatherman, and, when Williams dropped debris on the frontstretch to cause the fourth caution moments after the subsequent Lap 32 restart, NASCAR parked him under the Damaged Vehicle Policy.
Instead of driving his car to the garage, however, a frustrated Williams parked it at the start/finish line. NASCAR ordered Williams to the hauler for a discussion of the incident, after he was released from the infield care center.
NASCAR Xfinity Series Race – RAPTOR King of Tough 250
Atlanta Motor Speedway
Hampton, Georgia
Saturday, March 18, 2023
1. (3) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 163.
2. (11) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 163.
3. (4) Ryan Truex, Toyota, 163.
4. (13) Parker Kligerman, Chevrolet, 163.
5. (5) Riley Herbst, Ford, 163.
6. (12) Brett Moffitt, Ford, 163.
7. (9) Josh Berry, Chevrolet, 163.
8. (2) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 163.
9. (10) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, 163.
10. (18) Justin Haley(i), Chevrolet, 163.
11. (14) Ryan Sieg, Ford, 163.
12. (8) Cole Custer, Ford, 163.
13. (29) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 163.
14. (15) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 163.
15. (23) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 163.
16. (16) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 163.
17. (1) Sammy Smith #, Toyota, 163.
18. (32) Patrick Emerling, Ford, 163.
19. (21) Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, 163.
20. (35) Gray Gaulding, Chevrolet, 163.
21. (7) Sheldon Creed, Chevrolet, 163.
22. (36) Blaine Perkins #, Chevrolet, 163.
23. (24) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 163.
24. (37) Chad Chastain, Chevrolet, 163.
25. (27) Joe Graf Jr., Ford, 163.
26. (26) Kyle Sieg, Ford, 161.
27. (17) Parker Retzlaff #, Chevrolet, Accident, 154.
28. (6) Chandler Smith #, Chevrolet, Rear Gear, 127.
29. (19) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, Accident, 77.
30. (25) Connor Mosack, Toyota, Accident, 69.
31. (30) Sage Karam, Chevrolet, Radiator, 43.
32. (22) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, Accident, 33.
33. (20) Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, Accident, 26.
34. (31) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, Accident, 11.
35. (28) Kaz Grala, Toyota, Accident, 11.
36. (34) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, Accident, 11.
37. (33) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, Accident, 1.
38. (38) Caesar Bacarella, Chevrolet, Accident, 1.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 91.382 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 44 Mins, 49 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.085 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 12 for 68 laps.
Lead Changes: 13 among 8 drivers.
Lap Leaders: S. Smith # 0;J. Nemechek 1-10;A. Hill 11-43;J. Haley(i) 44-46;A. Alfredo 47;J. Haley(i) 48-49;A. Alfredo 50-66;B. Jones 67-76;P. Kligerman 77-81;G. Gaulding 82;R. Herbst 83-92;A. Hill 93-98;R. Herbst 99;A. Hill 100-163.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Austin Hill 3 times for 103 laps; Anthony Alfredo 2 times for 18 laps; Riley Herbst 2 times for 11 laps; John Hunter Nemechek 1 time for 10 laps; Brandon Jones 1 time for 10 laps; Parker Kligerman 1 time for 5 laps; Justin Haley(i) 2 times for 5 laps; Gray Gaulding 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 21,2,20,16,98,25,11,39,00,10
Stage #2 Top Ten: 48,98,9,2,78,39,8,21,00,51
- Christian Eckes makes history in dominant Truck Series win at Nashville - June 28, 2024
- Ross Chastain and others look to upset Hendrick dominance at Nashville - June 27, 2024
- Chase Briscoe and Josh Berry impress for soon-to-close SHR - June 23, 2024