October 26, 2024 | By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service

Austin Hill earns a spot in Xfinity Championship Four with Homestead-Miami win

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — An emotional Austin Hill climbed out of his No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet on the Homestead-Miami Speedway frontstretch to celebrate one of the most significant race wins of his burgeoning career – claiming the Credit One NASCAR AMEX Credit Card 300 trophy Saturday and securing one of four positions to race for a trophy in the Nov. 9 series championship finale.

Hill – who also swept both of the race’s stage wins – took the lead from Stewart-Haas Racing’s Cole Custer with 11 laps remaining Saturday evening at the 1.5-mile South Florida track and raced off to a healthy 3.045-second win over the fellow Playoff driver and reigning series champion Custer.

It was the fourth win of the season for Hill and 10th of this career. But importantly, it is the first time the 30-year-old Georgia native will have a chance to race for the championship trophy after multi-win seasons the last three years.

“I worked so hard for this, a lot of people doubt me but I wake up every day to prove them wrong,” Hill said. “I deserve to be here and I deserve to race for a championship. This 21-team deserves it just as much as I do. They work their [butts] off each and every day just like I do. I’ve got to give it up to those guys. They gave me a hell of a car.

“I can honestly say I’ve never cried coming to the start-finish line, but I had to get my emotions together going into Turn 1 after the checkered, all the hard work and dedication that goes into this. I don’t think everyone’s going to understand what this means for me, for my family and for [sponsor] Bennett. … I had to be on it today.

Pausing to take it in, he added, “This is amazing. To be able to go the Final Four. I’ve worked so hard at this and my dreams came true.”

With his win and A.J. Allmendinger’s victory last week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, now only two positions remain for the title chase with one more race remaining – at the Martinsville (Va.) Speedway half-miler next week – to establish the championship foursome.

JR Motorsports driver Justin Allgaier – who only had three previous top-10 finishes at Homestead – took the checkered flag in eighth place which was good enough to keep the driver of the No. 7 JRM Chevrolet with the points lead in third place should he need that to advance to the championship race.

Custer, whose No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford led a race best 87 of the 200 laps, is now on that fourth-place cutoff line with a 28-point advantage over Saturday’s race pole-winner Chandler Smith. Smith, finished 13th and as with the bottom four ranked drivers is essentially in a must-win situation next weekend.

Hill’s rookie teammate Jesse Love ran up front much of the day and finished fourth. He’s now sixth in the points standings – 35 points below Custer.

“It just shows you how good you have to be to get in the Championship Four,” Love said, noting of the Phoenix finale, “I feel like if we could get there we have a shot to win.”

JR Motorsports teammates Sam Mayer and Sammy Smith finished ninth and 22nd, respectively and find themselves in a similar must-win situation to Chandler Smith and Love next week at Martinsville.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Aric Almirola finished third Saturday behind the Playoff drivers, with Love and JGR’s Sheldon Creed rounding out the top-five. Custer’s SHR teammate Riley Herbst, RSS Racing’s Ryan Sieg, Allgaier, Mayer and last week’s race winner Allmendinger completed the top-10.

Of note, 18-year-old William Sawalich finished 24th in his much-anticipated Xfinity Series debut.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series moves to the Martinsville (Va.) Speedway half-miler next week for Saturday’s National Debt Relief 200 (4 p.m. ET on The CW, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Allgaier is the defending race winner. Almirola won at the track this Spring.



NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Number 31
Race Results for the Credit One? NASCAR? AMEX Credit Card 300 - Saturday, October 26, 2024
Homestead-Miami Speedway - Homestead, FL - 1.5 - Mile Paved

Total Race Length - 200 Laps - 300. Miles

Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 10/26/2024 @ 06:39 PM Eastern

Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 16 21 Austin Hill (P) Bennett Transportation Chevrolet 200 1 1 60 Running 3 82 7
2 4 00 Cole Custer (P) NXT on CW Ford 200 5 3 49 Running 4 67
3 3 20 Aric Almirola (P) Samaritan's Purse Toyota 200 2 5 49 Running 1 1
4 14 2 Jesse Love # (P) Whelen Chevrolet 200  9 35 Running  
5 2 18 Sheldon Creed Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Toyota 200 3 6 45 Running 1 12
6 8 98 Riley Herbst Monster Energy Ford 200 8  34 Running  
7 17 28 Ryan Sieg Sci Aps Ford 200 10 4 38 Running  
8 5 7 Justin Allgaier (P) BRANDT/Precision Build Chevrolet 200 4 7 40 Running  
9 9 1 Sam Mayer (P) 10X Health Chevrolet 200 6  33 Running  
10 6 16 AJ Allmendinger (P) Modern Day Garage Chevrolet 200 7 2 40 Running 1 9
11 7 48 Parker Kligerman Big Machine Spiked Coolers Chevrolet 200   26 Running  
12 13 88 Connor Zilisch Roto-Rooter Chevrolet 200   25 Running  
13 1 81 Chandler Smith (P) QuickTie Toyota 200 9 8 29 Running 1 29
14 21 91 Kyle Weatherman DriveSmart Chevrolet 200   23 Running  
15 18 5 Anthony Alfredo Botticelli Family Owned Chevrolet 200   22 Running  
16 23 51 Jeremy Clements Fly and Form Structures Chevrolet 200   21 Running  
17 25 97 Shane Van Gisbergen # WeatherTech Chevrolet 199   20 Running  
18 19 44 Brennan Poole E-Z Lift Garage Doors Chevrolet 199   19 Running  
19 20 9 Brandon Jones Menards/Tuscany Faucets Chevrolet 199   18 Running  
20 15 27 Jeb Burton OPTI-COAT/Bommarito Auto Chevrolet 199   17 Running  
21 22 26 Ryan Truex Toyota Genuine Parts Toyota 199   16 Running  
22 10 8 Sammy Smith (P) Pilot Flying J Chevrolet 199   15 Running  
23 11 31 Parker Retzlaff FUNKAWAY Chevrolet 199   14 Running  
24 12 19 William Sawalich(i) Starkey/Soundgear Toyota 199  10 0 Running  
25 31 43 Ryan Ellis Classic Collision Chevrolet 199   12 Running  
26 27 39 Kyle Sieg Sci Aps Ford 199   11 Running  
27 24 11 Josh Williams Star Tron Chevrolet 197   10 Running  
28 28 07 Brad Perez Space Beans Chevrolet 197   9 Running  
29 34 14 Austin Green 3Dimensional.com Chevrolet 197   8 Running  
30 26 42 Leland Honeyman # RANDCO Industries Chevrolet 197   7 Running  
31 32 45 Mason Maggio(i) Sparks Boat Works/F2 Chevrolet 197   0 Running  
32 30 15 Dylan Lupton Lupton Excavation Ford 196   5 Running  
33 29 74 Dawson Cram(i) Mike Harmon Racing Chevrolet 196   0 Running  
34 35 29 Blaine Perkins VIVID EV Ford 195   3 Running  
35 37 35 Armani Williams Blue Sprig Ford 193   2 Running  
36 36 53 Thomas Annunziata Criswell Chevy Chevrolet 190   1 Ignition  
37 33 92 Nick Leitz Precision Measurements Inc. Chevrolet 87   1 Suspension  
38 38 38 Matt DiBenedetto NBCF Ford 56   1 Overheating  

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 20 Mins, 23 Secs. Average Speed: 128.22 MPH Margin of Victory: 3.045 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 21, 20, 18, 7, 00, 1, 16, 98, 81, 28
Stage 2 Top 10: 21, 16, 00, 28, 20, 18, 7, 81, 2, 19

Failed to Qualify: None.

Caution Flags: 3 for 19 laps; Laps: 47-52 (Stage 1 Conclusion [43]); 88-95 (#92 Spin Turn 2 / Stage 2 Conclusion [98]); 123-127 (#26, 11 Incident Turn 1 [8]).

Lead Changes: 10 among 6 drivers; C. Smith (P) 1-29; C. Custer (P) 30-41; A. Almirola (P) 42; A. Hill (P) 43-97; C. Custer (P) 98-112; A. Hill (P) 113-127; C. Custer (P) 128-158; S. Creed 159-170; A. Allmendinger (P) 171-179; C. Custer (P) 180-188; A. Hill (P) 189-200.

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Next Race: November 2, 2024 - Martinsville Speedway

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CURRENT NASCAR XFINITY SERIES STANDINGS

POS NO. DRIVER MFR +/-

1 21 Austin Hill Chevrolet   WINNER
2 16 AJ Allmendinger Chevrolet   WINNER
3 7 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet +35
4 00 Cole Custer Ford +28


On The Bubble

5 81 Chandler Smith Toyota -28
6 2 Jesse Love Chevrolet -35
7 1 Sam Mayer Chevrolet -47
8 8 Sammy Smith Chevrolet -95