Austin Hill has been on a tear, having won two out of the first three races in the young 2023 season.
Hill currently sits atop what is shaping up to be a top-heavy NASCAR Xfinity Series garage this season, and that got me thinking: When is the last time someone started this hot?
This week’s installment of EoX will look at three of the hottest starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series history and examine exactly how those seasons went for the drivers in question. Let’s ride.
2012 Nationwide Series – Elliott Sadler/Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Over the first six races of the 2012 season, these two drivers won more than half of them. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in particular started the year off on rocky footing with a 19th-place finish in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway. But a top five at Phoenix Raceway followed by his first trip to victory lane on the season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway quickly righted the ship.
After winning at Phoenix and Bristol Motor Speedway in weeks two and four, respectively, Elliott Sadler was in the conversation for the series championship yet again. The wily veteran was after some hardware, and had no plans on letting the young Stenhouse stand in his way for a second year in a row.
Sadler’s Richard Childress Racing No. 2 Chevrolet was bad fast that season, and as the lead driver on a four-car Xfinity team, it should be. Stenhouse and Roush Fenway Racing had the perfect answer, though: the same one they had the year before.
Stenhouse went on to win his second series championship in a row as he beat Sadler, yet again. The next season, he was elevated to the NASCAR Cup Series to drive for Roush Fenway, where he remained until 2019. He only won two races in his seven years with the team, both coming at super speedways.
On the flip side, it would be Sadler’s last season at RCR before joining Joe Gibbs Racing for a two-year stint, Roush Fenway for one year and JR Motorsports for three. Sadler didn’t finish below sixth in the driver’s points a single time in full-time action until he stepped away from the sport at the end of the 2018 season.
1997 Busch Series – Randy LaJoie
If you didn’t already guess it, Randy LaJoie is the father of Cup Series racer Corey LaJoie, and his start to the 1997 series was one of the hotter ones on record.
Much like Hill, LaJoie started the year off with a bang by winning at Daytona and rode that momentum on into the season. He…
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