FANTASY NASCAR Racin

Starting racing when he was six, Hill climbed the ladder racing various disciplines such as Legend cars and Bandolero racing. After driving only two races in 2012 in the K&N Series; Hill captured a win in 2013 (at Dover) despite only running five races that season. His first full season in the series (2014) started slow but ended well, winning the final two races to finish fifth in the points. Hill continued his career in the K&N Pro Series East with a strong 2015 season. Driving for a family-owned team, he captured a pole, two wins, and failed to finish only once in a season that left him third in points. Also in 2014 he made his first start in the NASCAR Truck series at Martinsville wheeling the #92 Ford. He would make sporadic starts with the trucks until 2018 when he went full time. He made his first ARCA start in 2015 at Daytona driving the #8 A&D Welding Ford. Through 2021 he only has five career ARCA starts. Perhaps that’s because when he went to the Truck series full time in 2018; he was competitive; He had 12 out of 23 finishes in the Top 15. At Daytona in 2019 he would win his first Truck race driving for Shigeaki Hattori. He would win three more times that season; but was eliminated from the chance to win

2020. He claimed two wins; eight Top 5 and 15 Top 10 finishes; but again, missed having a shot to win the Championship. In the last three seasons he has won on about every kind of track. He won at Daytona and Michigan in 2019; had some wins on 1 ½ mile tracks in 2020, and in the 2021 season he won on the dirt at Knoxville; and the road course at Watkins Glen. In the Chase he ran great; but in round two at Bristol, he got caught up in a late race wreck that left him in 24th place. Up until that point he had run up front finishing second and third in the first two stages. But the poor finish saw him eliminated from the Chase and end up ninth in the points. He also made five starts in the Xfinity series in 2021. He had a best finish of ninth, coming at Nashville. Hill left the Truck series to go drive in the Xfinity series in 2022 for Richard Childress Racing full time. He actually ended

up dabbling a little in all three of NASCAR's top series in 2022. He made two starts in the Truck Series; those coming at Daytona and Pocono driving for Spire Motorsports. He placed 15th at Daytona and sixth at Pocono. He also made his first career Cup start in 2022. That came at Michigan. He qualified poorly; but ran a smart, clean race and worked his way through the field. When the checkers flew he was on the lead lap finishing 18th. But he had moved up to the Xfinity Series in 2022 to drive for Richard Childres and compete for the Championship. Hill began the 2022 season with a win at Daytona. That was followed by three poor finishes the next three events. He finished second at Atlanta and then

second again the following race at COTA. During the mid-season stretch he had a stretch of top ten finishes before breaking through to get another win at Atlanta. He posted many finishes inside the top ten; but like Kaulig racing and a couple other teams; the equipment just didn't seem to be a good as JR Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing. Those cars tended to hog the top five spots each race. Hill was eliminated following the Round of 8 after finishing ninth at Martinsville as a result of a collision with Myatt Snider. Following the race, Hill punched Snider in the face on

pit road. At the end of the season, he finished sixth in the points standings and won the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Rookie of the Year honors. He was back driving for RCR in the Xfinity Series in 2023. He had a season in the Xfinity series that got off to a great start. He opened the season winning at Daytona. Hill was sixth at Fontana the following week, and was back in victory lane the next week at Las Vegas. At Phoenix he was seventh; and back in the winner's circle again at Atlanta. Impressive start, with three wins in the first five races. He lost an engine at COTA and finished 37th, and came home ninth at Richmond, 16th at Martinsville and 18th at Talladega. Then

he got on a hot streak again as the next seven races his worst finish was eighth. At Atlanta Austin finished 12th; and added a third place finish at Loudon NH. He won at Pocono for his fourth win of the year. He added another third place finish at Elkhart Lake on the road course. He was piling up great finishes, and in the hunt to win the regular season championship. A 23rd place finish at Daytona, after leading 36 laps slowed his progress. And a run-in with team-mate Sheldon Creed at Bristol proved problematic. This lead Hill to state “With team-mates like Creed; who needs enemies?” Both made the Chase for the Championship with a shot at having two RCR cars in the final race to win it all. All Hill needed was a good run at

Martinsville, but Creed needed the win. As the final few laps played out Hill was leading, but Creed had a better car. Creed followed Hill for a while, but when they got down to less than five laps; Creed got more aggressive, bumping Hill letting him know he wanted by. Entering the final turn, coming to the checkers all Hill had to do was drift a little high and let Creed by, and both of them would make the Championship round. Creed bumped Hill and he went up the track, Hill cut back into Creed making both of them slide up the track. Justin Allgaier was right behind Creed, and when he slid up, that opened the bottom lane

and Allgaier filled the spot. Allgaier got to the front coming off the final turn, and Creed slid back to second. In his haste, Hill was so aggressive he went way high and got spun out by John Hunter Nemechek. With Allgaier winning; that kept Custer out of the Championship round; and Hill falling back cost him a shot at the Championship too. Hill was busy in 2023 as he made one start in the Truck series wheeling a Spire Motorsports truck. Unfortunately, he got caught up in a big crash on lap 52 and was eliminated. He also made five starts in the Cup series. He raced for Beard Motorsports in all five starts.

Fantasy NASCAR Racing

AUSTIN EDWARD HILL - 04/21/1994