Toyota team drama opens door for Hill’s Atlanta Xfinity race win

Austin Hill held off a charging Chandler Smith and Corey Heim to earn his ninth career win as a NASCAR Xfinity Series driver. Seven of his nine victories have come on drafting tracks including four at Atlanta. It’s extra special for Hill as a Georgia native.

“We had to dig deep for that one,” said Hill.”The No. 81 [Smith] got into (Turn) 3 and had me jacked up. He’s doing what he has to do to try and win. Very surprised that the No. 26 [Heim] pushed me there and didn’t go with a Toyota.

“I thought that I messed up into (Turns) 1 and 2, and I hate it that he got into the fence. I wasn’t trying to run him into the fence. I was just trying to get him aero loose.”

Hill ended up having two Toyota drivers directly behind him in the run to the finish. Smith got alongside, but his fellow Toyota driver Corey Heim didn’t help. He instead chose to push Hill, moving into second position with a shot at his first-ever Xfinity win.

In Turn 1, Heim went to the outside of Hill but ended up tagging the outside wall, ending his chances of winning. Parker Kligerman and A.J. Allmendinger then rocketed past, but they were unable to run down Hill before the checkered flag. Kligerman was second and Allmendinger third across the line. Smith finished fourth, Heim fifth.

Smith wasn’t very pleased by his teammate’s decision to not be a team player at the finish. “Yeah (I’m surprised), we’re Toyota teammates,” he told NBC Sports. “I got clear out of the restart zone and could have went bottom and hung up top to be the leader. I didn’t. I stayed up top with my Toyota teammate and ultimately gave up the lead doing that.” Smith was referring to the 14-to-go restart when he was in control of the race, but stayed in line while Hill passed him on the inside. That ended up being the winning move.

“I expected my Toyota teammate to go with me and that didn’t happen. “It is what it is, but we had a really fast No. 81 Supra all day. I feel like I’ve been robbed of three Atlanta wins now in my career here. I’m kind of speechless, honestly. There’s a lot of different things I could have done. I could have been more selfish … but I was trying to be a good teammate, and it didn’t pay off for me today, as usual.”

Race winner Austin Hill, Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet Camaro

Photo by: Lesley Ann Miller / Motorsport…