Austin Hill Reveals the BTS Drama That Forced Him to Switch Alliance to NASCAR’s Biggest Manufacturer Snubbing Multiple Offers

Austin Hill’s career trajectory has been anything but smooth. The 29-year-old motorsports athlete is currently a full-time Xfinity Series driver with Richard Childress Racing. A lot of people would look at that and think that Hill has done well for himself and is in a stable spot. But his journey to get there has been anything but that. On a recent episode of The Dalr Jr. Download podcast, the driver of the #21 Chevrolet Camaro revealed his rocky journey leading up to where he is in his career at the moment.

The RCR star is currently one of the contenders for the Xfinity Series title. Going into the final race of the round of 8, the driver of the #21 is only three points above the cutline. If things go his way, the 29-year-old could find himself in the championship race in Phoenix. It will indeed be an incredible achievement considering how much he and his family have had to struggle during his earlier years in motorsports.

Austin Hill’s career trajectory has been one rocky journey

It is no secret that motorsports is an expensive sport. Be it F1, MotoGP, or NASCAR, if you do not have the proper funding, you will simply not get a seat or even the right opportunities. Funding was one of Austin Hill’s biggest problems in the not-so-distant past. In 2019, the now 29-year-old had received calls from both RCR and Kaulig Racing. The only reason why he couldn’t join either of them was funding.

“We didn’t have the funding at the time. We didn’t have the funding to go to RCR, we didn’t have the funding to go to Kaulig. We were barely making ends meet doing what we were doing at the Truck level,” Hill revealed on The Dale Jr. Download.

By the end of 2020, Austin Hill revealed that he had a conversation with Chris Rice to join Kaulig Racing [Chevrolet team] in the Xfinity Series. It was a good offer for him that he intended to accept. At the time, he was a driver with Hattori Racing Enterprises in the Truck Series. HRE is a Toyota team and the engine manufacturer had Jack Irving as one of the high-ranking officials. When he approached Jack Irving about his potential decision, the Toyota man made him a deal he couldn’t refuse.

“He’s like well, I really want to keep you. Like I want you to be at Toyota. I want you to be…if you are okay with being Matt Crafton of the Truck Series, I want you to be that guy. And I’m like, well, let me think about this a little bit. And we go back and forth and there are some offers thrown at me and things like that and ultimately I made the decision. I’m like, this could be a good deal. I can race 23, 24 races a year, I can spend a lot of time with my family,” Hill said.

However, the financial aspect of things would come back to haunt him again. At the end of the 2021 season, HRE was facing sponsorship issues in Japan. Austin Hill was told that the cost of his racing at the team would go up. This was heartbreaking for the driver, who couldn’t afford to pay any more than he already did at the time. He had called Austin Craven, who is close to RCR, but nothing seemed to be on the horizon in 2022.

But all’s well that ends well. Austin Craven informed Austin Hill a few days later that there was an opening at Richard Childress Racing’s #21 Chevrolet seat. Now, all that was required was the full funding for him to make the switch from Toyota.

“I mean when we come into the program going into 2022, we didn’t have full funding…we went to work, Austin Craven and I, he’s my manager now. We go to work, we start talking about what are we gonna do sponsorship-wise and we get to talking to my dad thinking what B2B deals can we do and that’s where Bennett came along, Bennett Transportation Logistics. That’s what kind of merged the gap on us making it work for ‘22 and now in ’23, so we’re fully funded these last 2 years which has been great,” Hill said.

Despite all the struggles, the pieces fell into place for Austin Hill. Things weren’t easy at all, especially from the financial perspective, but the 29-year-old’s perseverance pulled him through all the way. Now, all he has to do is make the most of his opportunity.

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Will the RCR star make his dreams come true in 2023?

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Richard Childress Racing is one of the great NASCAR teams. They boast of helping the legendary Dale Earnhardt win 6 of the 7 Cup Series titles. Coming in as a driver at RCR will always mean that there are big shoes to fill.

It might only be his second season with the team in the Xfinity Series, but Austin Hill is proving that he has what it takes. The driver of the #21 is three points above the cutline heading into Martinsville. A win or a high points finish could see him qualify for the championship race in Phoenix.

Austin Hill has a commendable average of 9.6 finish over his three Martinsville starts, with two finishes in the top 10 and one remarkable one in the top 5. Given how much he has had to fight for, winning the Xfinity Series title would be an outstanding achievement. But will be 29-year-old be able to make his dream come true? Let us know your thoughts.

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