Austin Hill won his fourth race of the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series season at the Credit One NASCAR Amex Credit Card 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday (Oct. 26), taking the victory by 3.045 seconds, locking his No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet into the Championship 4 race at Phoenix Raceway.
The emotional Hill earned his 10th career Xfinity win by leading a race-high 82 laps of 200 total, sweeping all three stages.
“I work so hard at this,” Hill told The CW. “A lot of people doubt me, but I wake up everyday to prove everyone wrong that I deserve to be here. I deserve to race for a championship. This [No.] 21 team deserves it just as much as I do. They work their asses off each and every day just like I do. I got to give it up to those guys. They gave me a hell of a car.”
Cole Custer led late but was passed by Hill after being unable to maneuver around the lapped car of Dawson Cram on the high side. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver of the No. 00 Ford led 67 laps on the day.
Custer left Homestead 28 points above the playoff cutoff.
“I thought that second to last run we had it,” Custer said to The CW. “The car was really good. We freed it up a little bit and definitely gained some speed, but that last run, we got pretty free, and the [No.] 21 seemed like they got way better than what they were in the second-to-last run.”
Aric Almirola was the highest finishing Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, taking third, and Hill’s RCR teammate and playoff driver Jesse Love crossed the line fourth. The second JGR driver in the top five was Sheldon Creed, who ended up fifth.
Riley Herbst made contact with the wall while running 10th in stage two and had a puncture in his tire, forcing him to pit his SHR No. 98 for fresh tires and sending him a lap down. But he later made an impressive recovery drive to finish sixth
Ryan Sieg, Justin Allgaier, Sam Mayer and AJ Allmendinger rounded out the top 10.
Chandler Smith started on the pole but his lead was taken by Custer in the middle of the first run, and Hill, who started 16th, worked his way to the front at the end of the stage to take the stage one win.
Playoff driver Sammy Smith got into the wall during the opening stage and had to pit to change tires that were down to the cords.
Hill continued to hold the lead throughout the second stage with a brief challenge from Custer.
Hill took the stage two win after a caution for Nick Leitz spinning coming out…
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