Richard Childress’s Legend in Making Talks About the Significance of Winning the Season Opener

In only his third full-time Xfinity Series season, Austin Hill has already made quite the name for himself as a superspeedway master. After debuting for Richard Childress Racing in 2022, Hill secured five wins at the superspeedways, with the latest win at this year’s opener adding a third Daytona win to his career. And that’s not all. Hill also stands a chance at securing his third win at Atlanta Motor Speedway, a track close to him from the very start. Whilst Hill already had a lot of confidence entering the 2024 Xfinity season, that momentum only picked up further pace after his win in the United Rentals 300. With that said, the rising star at RCR shared just how important kicking off the season with a win was.

Richard Childress Racing and Austin Hill get a major confidence boost from Daytona ‘3-peat’

The 2024 Daytona Speedweek could not have been a better result for Chevrolet, with all three races under their belt. And for Austin Hill, the race was equally momentous. After suffering from an early crash and battling issues on pit road, Hill managed to fend off teammate Sheldon Creed by half a second to take the checkered flag in the #21. Through all odds, Hill had once again shown why he’s gained notoriety as the superspeedway king.

Austin Hill’s ability to maintain close ground with the pack and his sense of timing his pushes correctly makes him a formidable force for this weekend too, with Atlanta requiring similar drafting skills. And now that the RCR star has secured the season-opening win, Hill shared how it’s boosted his confidence heading to his home track.

He stated, “Yeah you know, I mean, it’s a huge accomplishment obviously so many things have to go right when you win these superspeedway races, even here in Atlanta this weekend. Like everything has gotta go right. You gotta have a little luck on your side. Just trying to put yourself in the right place at the right time and all the adversity that we had fought last week, to still get the job done was huge.”

While the #21 Chevrolet driver had managed to avoid major wrecks, he was honoured to join the likes of Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr and The Intimidator himself, as one of the few drivers that have brought back-to-back glory for RCR at Daytona.

Reflecting on its gravitas, Hill shared his thoughts in a NASCAR press conference, “You know, to win three in a row as we’ve done for the opening season is huge. And I don’t even know if it’s really fully set in yet still, like what we accomplished. We were locked in the playoffs going into the 2024 playoff season already, just like we’ve done the last two years.”

Hill also felt that heading into the season with a win under his belt at this early stage meant a lot of the pressure had been released. Now, the team could focus on maximising each result and could take more risks than before, owing to the points haul Hill brought in at Daytona. He concluded, “So it just kind of takes that weight off your shoulders where you’re not having to really fight the points battle and all that and making sure you’re in once we get to the summer months and all.”

It’s safe to say Austin Hill and Richard Childress Racing couldn’t be any more prepared for the weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway. With that said, Hill also revealed how his roots in Legend car racing at Atlanta had equally prepared him for his superspeedway dominance.

How Austin Hill’s childhood shaped his Superspeedway dominance

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While Austin Hill may be dominating some of the world’s finest race tracks, it all was just a dream back when he started racing Legend and Bandolero cars. It was at this point that Hill got to grips with the art of racing, learning everything that would ultimately help him achieve three consecutive victories at Daytona International Speedway.

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Reflecting on how this had helped grow his superspeedway stature, Austin Hill shared, “I’ve always really said this to a lot of people that, you know, driving a Legend car was big on teaching me car control. Back when I ran Legend cars, the tyres were a little different than how they are today, you had a different engine package that had a lot of torque and so like you just couldn’t like Hammer the throttle down, you had to kind of roll into the throttle, be easy, keep the rear tyres underneath you.”

Hill also stated that through learning such driving techniques, the RCR star would know just how to keep the car on the edge, without cooking the rear tyres. All of these shenanigans occurred at the very place he’ll be racing this weekend, on a quarter-mile track. Which is why Austin Hill concluded by stating, “It’s really cool to see the transition and making it to the level that I’ve made it. Now I’m on the big track at Atlanta and I think that all the races that I have run here in the Bandoleros and Legend cars were big parts and big reasons of why we’ve had success once I moved up through the rankings.” 

From racing as a six-year-old at Atlanta Motor Speedway to fighting for Xfinity Series glory as a 29-year-old, life has come more than just full circle for Richard Childress’s rising star.