Austin Hill Scores Daytona Xfinity Series 3-Peat
Credit: DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 19: Austin Hill, driver of the #21 Bennett Transportation Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series United Rentals 300 at Daytona International Speedway on February 19, 2024 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill held off former teammate Sheldon Creed to win Monday night’s rain-delayed United Rentals 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway. The win was Hill’s third straight in the season-opening race. While the summer race at Daytona has been another story, he’s been next to invincible in February.
“Yeah, man, I really don’t know what it is. I feel like really all the superspeedways that we go to, we do basically the same things that we always do. We bring really fast Bennett Chevrolets to the racetrack. We have some really fast ECR engines, and I always think that for the most part that we make the right moves a lot of the time.
“There’s plenty of times throughout the race that I don’t make the right move,” Hill added. “But I kind of put that in my memory bank and I learn going into later in the race.
“The other races, a little bit of luck is involved with these superspeedways. You got to be in the right place, right time. There were plenty of times that I could have gotten taken out, and I luckily kind of squeaked by there. I did get in a wreck early in the race, but fortunately it wasn’t too much damage.
“I mean, it’s just the first race of the season has treated me well. Everyone in the off-season is bringing their best stuff to the first race at Daytona. To win here the first race out says a lot, and to do a three-peat like we did, I don’t think a lot of people understand how hard that is to do here at Daytona. It is hard to win one race at Daytona, much less three in a row like we did for the season opener.
“I’m cherishing every moment of it, but then come tomorrow, Wednesday, we’re going to be getting ready for Atlanta, to go see if we can go back-to-back to start the season.”
Credit: DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 19: Austin Hill, driver of the #21 Bennett Transportation Chevrolet, takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series United Rentals 300 at Daytona International Speedway on February 19, 2024 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
As a three-time winner of the biggest race on the Xfinity Series schedule, Hill offered his perspective on why some drivers say they would trade anything in their careers for a win at Daytona.
“I know this is crazy me saying this because I’ve done it three times in a row now to start the season, but it is extremely hard to win here. It’s not easy. There’s so many different variables that happen. There’s a lot of wrecks that happen throughout the race that might not be your doing. I was in one today. Luckily I just had some minor damage, obviously.
“So there’s so much stuff that’s out of your control, and even if you put together the perfect race, you do everything right, you do all your pit stops on pit road, you get back out and in the lead, it still all has to come together, and you have to really trust the guy out back that’s pushing you and the guys around you that are racing side by side with you to keep it together.
“Daytona is just the start of the season. It’s kind of — in the Xfinity Series it’s kind of like our Daytona 500 in a sense just because it is the start of the season, we’re getting going, you’re racing the same weekend as the Daytona 500, so the extra hype is there, a lot more viewers normally is there.
“Everyone wants to win at Daytona and everyone wants to win to start off the season because then it starts your playoffs, everything like that. You’re already locked in for the playoffs later in the season, and you can go ahead and go to work for that to get ready for the end of the year.”
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