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Austin Hill Vying for Xfinity Title After Race That Should Be Championship Finale

2024 Xfinity Homestead-Miami Austin Hill trophy (Credit: NKP)

You may recall the opening to last week’s Xfinity Breakdown where I said the postseason brings out the best in our NASCAR Xfinity Series championship contenders.

Well, the same thing happened this week with a different driver: Austin Hill.

The No. 21 Richard Childress Racing driver qualified 16th at Homestead-Miami Speedway but had a great long-run car. He won both stages and got past Cole Custer with about 12 laps left to take the win in the NXS Credit One NASCAR AMEX Credit Card 300.

The third stage saw multiple strategies, with several cars staying out as long as they could in case a caution flag waved. Hill and Custer both pitted with about 40 laps to go; AJ Allmendinger pitted from the lead around lap 180. But in the end, it was the long-run pace of the Nos. 21 and 00 that bested the competition.

Custer finished second while Aric Almirola was third. Jesse Love was fourth and Sheldon Creed rounded out the top five.

Winners

While Hill’s playoff run hasn’t been terrible, he only had led seven laps in this year’s postseason stretch coming into Homestead. Primarily known for his superspeedway skills, a run like this one was a tad unexpected. Hill does have a couple wins at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Pocono Raceway, both coming last season.

But anything can happen in the playoffs; a team can get a car’s setup just right, and the driver can avoid all the trouble on the racetrack. That’s exactly what happened with Hill, and this kind of performance is scary for the other playoff drivers.

Custer was passed by Hill late in the race, and although it wasn’t a win, the No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing team has to feel good about its run. Custer earned points in both stages and came home second entering the next-to-last race of the year. It was his second runner-up finish in the playoffs, adding to a second place at Kansas Speedway (also with NXT on CW aboard the car).

Custer should perform similarly at Martinsville Speedway next week, though that track is obviously known for a lot of beatin’ and bangin’. He’ll look to stay out of harm’s way in his trek to the Championship 4.

Ryan Sieg also had a good day, gaining 10 positions from where he qualified to finish seventh. Like Custer and Hill, Sieg finished in the top 10 in both stages: 10th in stage one and fourth in stage two.

While it wasn’t quite the run that Sieg had last week, it was still very strong and it makes me wonder how the points might…

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