Austin Hill was credited with a 12th-place finish in Sunday afternoon’s rescheduled running of the M&M’s 200 at Iowa Speedway. Hill posted a track-best finish at Iowa after starting ninth and fighting back after sustaining significant damage to his ARCO National Construction Toyota in the second half of the event.
After rain washed out qualifying Saturday and forced the postponement of the M&M’s 200 to Sunday, Hill began his afternoon from ninth and managed to stay in the top-10 despite battling a loose handling condition in the early laps. Crew chief Scott Zipadelli gave Hill four tires and air pressure changes after finishing eighth in Stage 1 at lap 60. Hill restarted seventh on lap 67 after quick work by the No. 16 pit crew. The loose condition persisted despite the adjustments and ran the balance of Stage 2 in ninth and collected two points the conclusion of the stage on lap 120.
In the final stage, Hill was running seventh when he and the No. 13 truck made contact while racing for position. That resulted in a caution on lap 138 and Hill subsequently suffering significant damage after contact from the No. 13 machine under the yellow flag. Zipadelli and the ARCO National Construction team made ample repairs to Hill’s Tundra and returned him to action in order to salvage as many points as possible.
Hill restarted 17th on lap 145 and managed to overcome the damage sustained to his truck to run as high as 12th position. The Winston, GA native took the checkered flag in 13th, but was credited with a 12th-place result after the initial winner was disqualified following post-race inspection. Hill still resides in seventh in the NASCAR Gander Outdoor Truck Series standings after 10 events.
HRE PR
