The mayhem of Martinsville Speedway collected Austin Hill on Saturday afternoon and relegated him a 26th-place finish after being involved in a multi-truck accident 74 laps shy of the finish. Despite the result, Hill maintains one of the coveted final four provisional spots, nine points above the cut line, as one race remains in the Round of 6 of the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series playoffs.
The driver of the No. 16 Ibaraki Toyopet Toyota Tundra began his afternoon from the 17th position and immediately made progress toward the front in Stage 1. Hill finished the opening 50-lap segment in 14th and restarted 12th on lap 62 after a quick four-tire pit stop under the caution by the HRE team.
Crew chief Scott Zipadelli seized a prime opportunity to gain track position and kept Hill on track during the lap 78 caution to net Hill the third position. Hill waged a fierce war at the front of the field over the final 13 laps of Stage 2 to earn seven points in third position on lap 100. However, Hill’s afternoon would come to a premature end after being involved in a multi-truck on lap 123 as several trucks piled up on the exit of Turn 2.
With two races remaining in the season, Hill and the No. 16 team sit fourth in the championship standings with a nine-point cushion over the cut line as the final four drivers will be decided at ISM Raceway.
Austin Hill Quote:“We started in the back and we had a good strategy pitting at (lap) 50, so we were going to have 150 laps to go and we got good stage points. Everybody is trying to get the same real estate there. The Tundra was pretty decent. It was so hard to pass today, so having track position was key. I think we could’ve ran inside the top 10. I don’t think we had anything to go win today, but it’s good that a few other of the Playoff guys are having issues as well, so we’ll go on to Phoenix and see what happens.”
“Well, we hit pretty hard. The engine ended up shifting a couple of inches and ultimately when we went back out the oil belt flew off, so that ruined our day. We had a good strategy there starting in the back like we did, it was hard to pass all day and we didn’t get stage points in the first stage, so we went ahead and pitted and we were going to stay out the rest of the race, so I think we could’ve easily finished inside the top 10.”
HRE PR
