Austin Hill captures emotional O’Reilly Series win for RCR at Naval Base Coronado

CORONADO, CALI. — After multiple red flags and broken barriers Austin Hill captures an emotional win for RCR in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series at Naval Base Coronado in the United Rentals Driven to Serve 250.

This is his second win of the season and his 16th series victory overall.

At long last, Hill finally captures his first series road course win. He does so after 16 top ten’s in 23 career starts on the road in the series prior.

He struck while the iron was hot. The leaders fought tooth and nail to get the historic win on the base but a wheel-hop from Taylor Gray sent Carson Kvapil spinning.

Hill used that event to close his nearly two second gap to the top two and eventually found his way around the ailing tires of Gray for the win.

Before the intense run to the finish line, Austin Hill qualified fourth and took the lead early in the first stage. He did not flip the stage and earned his fifth stage win of the season and his first since Martinsville.

From there, he lost the top spot and hovered inside the top ten for pretty much the whole event.

He had top five speed in the final stage, but he needed that exact scenario that gave him the opportunity to win.

Once he crossed the finish line, Hill was emotional on the radio. From screams of joy from the driver to a somber acknowledgement made by Richard Childress, the radio message had it all.

The organization picked up their first win since Kyle Busch’s passing. He found the eighth corner where Busch’s number laid and honored him in the best way possible – a great big burnout.

The win instills confidence in the rest of their regular season. His win also gave himself more security in his Chase hunt. He leaves SoCal for NorCal now fifth in the standings and 148 total points ahead of the cutline.

The Top Ten

Taylor Gray settled for second after his late race altercation with Carson Kvapil. He had race winning speed late, But the move costed him the tire grip necessary to maintain his lead. Beforehand, Gray ran inside the top ten during most of the event and won the second stage.

Sheldon Creed had a solid weekend. Creed avoided much of the carnage throughout and finished third for another good points day. During the second red flag a well-inebriated fan hopped the fence and fist bumped him.

Fourth place would usually feel pretty good for Carson Kvapil, but not at the base. He was the car to beat late in the final stage. He was less than three laps away from what could have been his first career series win before contact with Taylor Gray killed that notion.

Kvapil will make his final jump to the DGM Racing No. 91 next weekend at Sonoma.

His JR Motorsports teammate, Sammy Smith, wheeled his patriotic Arby’s meat missile to fifth.

Jesse Love recovered from his massive pre-race penalty to finish sixth. He started from the rear after being barred from qualifying and served an additional pass-through penalty and gave the RCR duo a top ten each.

Parker Retzlaff ran out of gas while in second just after the second red flag was lifted. He qualified on the front row in second and finished seventh after his untimely fuel issue.

Retzlaff and his Viking Motorsports team continue to have great weekends together and edge closer to a Chase birth.

Austin Green returned to the No. 87 Peterson Motorsports entry for the United Rentals Driven to Serve 250 and finished eighth. He led the lone practice session and ran inside the back half of the top ten for much of the race.

Green will return to the seat for their next race at Sonoma. But, he will once again give up his seat to Nick Sanchez after the series heads back east.

Harrison Burton earned a hard-fought top ten for Sam Hunt Racing in ninth.

Finally, Corey Day completed one of the most unique top ten runs anyone has ever seen in tenth. His day started from the rear after his quick practice wreck left him in the rear. Just like his practice session his race was over just as fast.

During the opening laps, Day hit a manhole cover that propped open. The cover took a large chunk out the undercarriage of his backup car. Because of the nature of the incident, NASCAR made the unprecedented call to allow the team to make repairs and return to the race without the loss of a lap.

They made their repairs in time when the first red flag was lifted. From there, crew chief Adam Woll made the right calls to get his rookie a great result.

Below is the full results of the United Rentals Driven to Serve 250.

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Full Results