Hill continues dominant start
HAMPTON, Ga., March 20, (AP): Austin Hill continued his dominant start to the NASCAR Xfinity season, holding off Daniel Hemric at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday night for his third win in five races.
Hill overcome a record-setting day of cautions in doubleheader Xfinity and truck series races. There were 11 cautions, the most for an Xfinity race in Atlanta, knocking out 12 drivers.
Hill previously collected Xfinity wins at Daytona on Feb. 18 to open the season and at Las Vegas on March 4. Hill, a native of Winston, Georgia, added a home-track win to his strong start for the Richard Childress Racing team.
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The final caution came with eight laps remaining and Hill holding a slim lead over Parker Kligerman in a battle of Chevrolets. The race resumed with two laps remaining and Hill held on as Kligerman wrecked before the finish line and finished fourth. Ryan Truex was third.
“I knew I had it when I came across the line,” Hill said. “Before that I had no idea.”
The chaos near the finish line threatened to take the win from Hill.
“I have no idea how I saved it at the line,” Hill said. “I got hit in the right rear.”
One of the cautions led a frustrated Josh Williams to make an unusual exit in the first stage, leaving his car parked on the startfinish
line for dramatic effect.
Four cautions in the first stage covered 26 of 40 laps, including a final yellow after debris came off Williams’ No. 92 Chevrolet and he was ordered by NASCAR to park his vehicle.
A frustrated Williams followed, but on his terms. He parked his car on the checkered start-finish line, climbed out and walked toward his pit crew with a wave to the fans, apparently delivered with sarcasm.