Austin Hill continues his NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) effort with yet another doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Talladega Superspeedway. The driver of the No. 61 AISIN Group, ADVICS Toyota Supra will make his second superspeedway NXS start this season after competing in the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway (DIS). Hill will enter the NXS event fresh off the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race and looks to be in contention for his first-career NXS triumph.
Second Home Race … Talladega is a “home track” of sorts for Hill. His hometown of Winston, Ga. is a short 75-mile cruise from the massive 2.66-mile tri oval and just might serve as a home track advantage. Hill has been quietly efficient at superspeedway racing in his young career. Saturday marks his second NXS start on a superspeedway, but he has seven Gander Trucks starts at superspeedways on his resume. In those seven events, he has scored one victory, four top-10’s, and only two finishes lower than 11th between DIS and Talladega. He’ll look to parlay that success from his Toyota Tundra to the No. 61 AISIN Group, ADVICS Supra on Saturday afternoon.
Season to Date … Hill will make his sixth NXS start of the 2020 campaign on Saturday and looks to elevate his career best NXS finish. He equaled his best finish of ninth at Darlington Raceway in early September, a mark that he set at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2019. Superspeedway racing has long been famous for producing first-time winners, and if one would occur on Saturday afternoon, Hill might be the perfect candidate.
Chassis Selection … Chassis No. 146 returns to competition for the first time since Speedweeks at DIS in February. The NXS season-opener was the first time Hill and the HRE team had competed with this Toyota Supra and have since updated it for its return to the track this weekend.
Tune In … Coverage of Hill’s NXS debut at ‘Dega will begin at 3:00 p.m. ET with Countdown to Green, followed by the green flag at 4:30 p.m. ET. Stay updated with Hill and the No. 61 AISIN Group, ADVICS team by following @Hattori_Racing on Twitter, Hattori Racing Enterprises on Facebook, and @hattoriracing on Instagram.
Austin Hill Quote:On making his first NXS Talladega start:“Between the truck and our AISIN Group, ADVICS Supra, we really don’t have any pressure on us this weekend. We can keep things simple and just race for the win in both races. I learned quite a few things in Daytona about how these Xfinity cars draft compared to the trucks, and I think that will help us on Saturday. It’ll be a bit of an adjustment going from one vehicle to the other back-to-back, but I’m looking forward to the challenge. Talladega is always one of those races where the playing field is totally even, so I think we have as good of a chance as anyone to put AISIN Group and ADVICS in victory lane. Hopefully we can race towards the front all day long and put ourselves in a position to have a shot at it.”
HRE PR
