Hill Rebounds From Loose Wheel For Fourth In Sin City

Austin Hill leads a line of cars Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. (HHP/Jim Fluharty photo)

LAS VEGAS – Despite a loose wheel midway into Saturday’s LiUNA! 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill rebounded to score a top-five finish.

Halfway into the second stage of the 200-lap race, the driver of the No. 21 Bennett Transportation & Logistics Chevrolet reported a vibration. The only pit stop of the race to that point had taken place about 20 laps prior during the first stage break caution.

Though Hill tried to ride it out, the vibration worsened, forcing him to bring his car to the attention of his pit crew, led by crew chief Chad Haney. The Winston, Ga., native lost a lap as the team found a loose left rear wheel.

Luckily for Hill, though pitting from inside the top 10 did cost him a lap, he rejoined the race as the first car one lap down. When stage two ended, he earned the free pass, moving the 23rd-place running car back onto the lead lap for the final stage of what Hill later called a “character-building” race.

“Everyone on our Bennett Transportation & Logistics Chevrolet fought really hard today,” Hill said. “With restarting outside the top 20 at the start of stage three, we had to grind to finish where we did. It shows the character of everyone on this No. 21 team. Throughout the middle part of the race, our car was extremely fast, but at the end of the race, we were sideways loose.”

Over the course of those final 102 laps, the 30-year-old climbed back up the running order. Before green-flag pit stops with 56 laps to go, Hill had re-entered the top 10.

After the pit cycle had been completed, he was sixth. Continuing the march forward, Hill passed Brandon Jones with under 10 laps to go and passed Sam Mayer for fourth exiting turn four on the final lap.

It gives Hill some momentum heading to Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway, where he won during the playoffs last year to advance into the Championship 4.

“I’m not sure how we drove back up to fourth, but all in all, it was a solid effort for our guys,” Hill admitted. “We’ve had some mistakes these last few races, but we will clean those up. It’s still early in the year, so I’m fine with having some mistakes early. We just don’t want to have those when (the) playoffs start later this season.

“We are going to be strong at Homestead next week. I feel really good about our chances there.”

Hill’s late-race drive wasn’t his only surge forward. After avoiding the opening-lap wreck that ended the day for William Sawalich and collected Parker Retzlaff, he moved from 14th up to seventh in the opening stage, gaining four points in the process.

The Richard Childress Racing driver remains fourth in points, 40 behind defending champion and new series leader Justin Allgaier. By virtue of his win at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway in February, Hill is locked into the Xfinity Series playoffs.

Next for the Team Chevy driver is the Hard Rock Bet 300 at Homestead. On his way to victory a season ago, Hill led 82 of 200 laps. Broadcast coverage is scheduled for Saturday, March 22 at 4 p.m. ET on The CW, the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.