RCR continues drafting track domination with a Hill of a win at Atlanta
HAMPTON, Ga. — Richard Childress Racing continued its drafting track domination with a ‘Hill’ of a win Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Austin Hill won the first two stages of the Bennett Transportation & Technologies 250 at Atlanta and led all but 16 of the first 159 laps going into the final restart, trickling down from four laps to go to three.
Justin Allgaier beat Hill to the line with a push from teammate Sammy Smith and cleared Hill. However, Allgaier didn’t move up, pulling Hill back to the lead with a big push from Aric Almirola.
Almirola took his turn, moving into the inside lane and leading with the white flag. However, he couldn’t hold off Hill as Parker Retzlaff pushed him by for what was the race-winning pass.
Austin Hill has won five of the last six NASCAR Xfinity Series races at Atlanta.
TOP-10 FINISHERS: Hill, Allgaier, Almirola, Sammy Smith, Nick Sanchez, Jeb Burton, Daniel Dye, Leland Honeyman Jr., William Sawalich, Harrison Burton.
Xfinity Fastest Lap of the race: Christian Eckes (30.402 seconds). Eckes will earn a bonus point toward his championship points total for running the fastest lap.
Jesse Love finished 16th after leading 13 laps. Love ran second to Hill in the first half of the race but lost the handle on his car, sliding back to fifth in stage two and out of the top-five as the final stage wore on.
STAGE ONE TOP-10 (LAP 45): Austin Hill, Jesse Love, Sam Mayer, Taylor Gray, Carson Kvapil, Connor Zilisch, Justin Allgaier, Christian Eckes, Harrison Burton, Sheldon Creed
STAGE TWO TOP-10 (LAP 90): Hill, Mayer, Creed, Allgaier, Love, Aric Almirola, Sammy Smith, Jeb Burton, Eckes
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com