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Hill roars into Xfinity Championship 4 with win over Homestead

Posted on by Pranco
Hill roars into Xfinity Championship 4 with win over Homestead

An emotional Austin Hill stepped out of his No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet on the Homestead-Miami Speedway frontstretch to celebrate one of the most important race victories of his burgeoning career. He claimed the Credit One NASCAR AMEX Credit Card 300 trophy on Saturday, securing one of four positions to race for a trophy in the Nov. 9 series championship finale.

Hill – who also took both stage wins in the race – took the lead from Stewart-Haas Racing’s Cole Custer with eleven laps remaining on the 1.5-mile South Florida circuit on Saturday evening and raced to a healthy 3.045 victory seconds over fellow Playoff driver and reigning champion Custer.

It was Hill’s fourth win of the season and 10th of his career. But more importantly, it’s the first time the 30-year-old Georgia native has had the opportunity to race for the championship trophy after multiple seasons of multiple wins over the past three years.

“I worked so hard for this. A lot of people doubt me, but I wake up every day to prove them wrong,” Hill said. “I deserve to be here and I deserve to race for a championship. This number 21 team deserves it as much as I do. They work their butts off every day, just like me. I have to pass it on to those guys. They gave me a great car.

“I can honestly say I have never cried when I got to the start-finish line, but I had to gather my emotions as I entered Turn 1 after the finish. All the hard work and dedication that goes into this. I don’t think everyone will understand what this means for me, my family and for Bennett. …I had to be there today.

He paused to take it in and added, “This is amazing. To be able to go to the Final Four. I worked so hard on this and my dreams came true.”

With his win and AJ Allmendinger’s victory last week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, there are now just two positions left in the title hunt with one race remaining – at the Martinsville (Va.) Speedway half-mile next week – to to establish the championship foursome.

JR Motorsports driver Justin Allgaier – who previously finished in the top 10 just three times at Homestead – took the checkered flag in eighth place, which was good enough to give the driver of the No. 7 JRM Chevrolet the points lead in third place if he needs it. that to advance to the championship race.

Custer, whose No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford led a career-best 87 of the race’s 200 laps, now sits in fourth place with a 28-point lead over Saturday’s pole winner Chandler Smith. Smith finished 13th and as with the bottom four drivers, he is essentially in a must-win situation next weekend.

Hill’s rookie teammate Jesse Love ran up front for much of the day and finished fourth. He is now sixth in the points standings – 35 points less than Custer.

“It just shows how good you have to be to get into the Championship Four,” Love said, pointing to the Phoenix final: “I feel like if we can get there, we have a chance to win.”

JR Motorsports teammates Sam Mayer and Sammy Smith finished ninth and 22nd, respectively, and find themselves in a similar must-win situation as Chandler Smith and Love next week at Martinsville.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Aric Almirola finished third behind the Playoff drivers on Saturday, while Love’s Sheldon Creed and JGR rounded out the top five. Custer’s SHR teammate Riley Herbst, RSS Racing’s Ryan Sieg, Allgaier, Mayer and last week’s race winner Allmendinger rounded out the top 10.

Notably, 18-year-old William Sawalich finished 24th in his highly anticipated Xfinity Series debut.

The NASCAR Allgaier is the defending race winner. Almirola won on the track this spring.

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