Richard Childress Racing driver Austin Hill repeated his winning heroics at Atlanta, grabbing his third win of the season. After major contenders like Justin Allgaier and Cole Custer crashed out of the race in a major wreck, Hill was the clear favorite to park his racecar in the victory lane, and he did.

Austin Hill couldn’t have pulled off the victory without a crucial push from Corey Heim. With just two laps to go, Chandler Smith was right on Hill’s bumper, nearly making a pass for the lead on the front stretch. However, Heim, trailing behind, chose to support Hill instead, leaving his fellow Toyota driver, Smith, without assistance.

The momentum in the outside lane proved too strong for Smith, causing him to fall further back in the pack. What could have been a win for Smith turned into a P4 finish. All he needed was a push from another Toyota driver, but Heim had different plans—ones he justified in the post-race interview.

“Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, the move was going to be made on the straightaways and not the middle or the corner. There’s no point going to the bottom or the middle, or the corner and trying to skip out the leader. Best car all day, the 21 so wasn’t in my best interest, wasn’t in his best interest either.” Heim said after the race.

Moreover, he wasn’t worried about the repercussions that he could face during the TRD team meeting. “I’ll have the discussion on when to make the move, but maybe that’s about it.” He added. Although Austin Hill might have bagged a win, this controversial move by Corey Heim would be making all the noise. Meanwhile, the JGR driver was left scratching his head on what he could’ve done differently.

Smith has already locked himself in the playoffs with his wins at Richmond and Phoenix. However, the results of this race were a kick in his guts, as he experienced a similar feeling as he did back in February. During the spring race, he was behind Austin Hill on the final few laps after leaders ran out of fuel, but he had to settle for a runner-up finish that day.

He did make all the right moves for the second time at his home track, but once again the Georgian native couldn’t conquer the 1.540-mile quad-oval. Smith was heartbroken and feeling robbed of his victory. “Yeah, we’re Toyota teammates, and I got clear out of the restart zone and could’ve went bottom and hung him up to be the leader in the top lane. I didn’t, and I stayed up top with my Toyota teammate and ultimately gave up the lead doing that.” Smith said after the race.

“I feel like I’ve been robbed from three Atlanta wins now, unfortunately, in my career. I’m kind of speechless, honestly. There’s a lot of different things I could’ve done. I could’ve been more selfish, and when I got clear, and went to the bottom and controlled the race for sure. I was trying to be a good teammate, and that didn’t pay off for me,” he added.

The race winner Austin Hill was also baffled to see Heim helping him out on the final dash in what could’ve resulted in a Toyota win.

How is Atlanta Motor Speedway a special place for Austin Hill?

Out of the nine Xfinity Series career wins Austin Hill has scored, four of those have come at Atlanta. Unlike Chandler Smith, this hometown hero has some good memories of racing at the intermediate track and would add more after this victory. But his fourth win certainly didn’t come easy, as he had to fend off Smith and Heim on the final 2 laps.

In fact, he even ran Corey Heim into the wall, trying to defend his lead to the checkered flag. But his rival’s move a lap before took him by surprise. Sharing the sentiment, Austin Hill said, “Our Bennett Chevrolet wasn’t handling great all day. It had plenty of speed. The handle on it was tough all day. We had to dig deep for that one. The 81 (Chandler Smith) got into (turn) 3 and had me jacked up. He’s doing what he had to do to win. (I’m) very surprised that the 26 pushed me there and didn’t go with a Toyota.”

The race to make the playoffs is still wide open, with two races to go. However, Ryan Seig’s DNF proved costly for him as he dropped below the bubble. Also, the likes of A.J. Allmendinger, Sheldon Creed, Sammy Smith, and Parker Kligerman are all banking on points to advance further.