Austin Hill Wheels the Victory Wear Ford F-150 to a Solid Top-15 Finish at Martinsville

Austin Hill and his No. 02 Victory Wear Ford F-150 team rallied from a late pit-road penalty Saturday, to a top-15 finish at Martinsville Speedway. After starting the 250-lap event from the 22nd position, the Winston, G.A. native had meticulously worked his way into the top-15 by the end of segment one, on lap 70. Coming to pit road for four tires and fuel, Hill reported his truck was tight in the center, on both ends of the track. Crew chief Bruce Cook addressed the issue with an air pressure and trackbar adjustment. Utilizing his spotter, Mike Herman Jr., Hill began working the heavy traffic around the .526-mile short track. Having worked his way into the 10th position, Hill and team utilized the lap 135 caution to again come to pit road and work on the No. 02 Victory Wear Ford. As Hill left his pit stall, the gas can became lodged and drug halfway down pit road. Per NASCAR rules, Hill had to come back to pit road for a stop-and-go penalty and start at the tail end of the field, in 23rd.  Never giving up, Hill started his quest towards the front, where he found himself knocking on the door of 10th place, before a late race restart, shuffled him back to 14th place, where he would take the checkered flag in heavy traffic.

 

                        Start – 22                    Finish – 14                  Laps Led – 0

 

AUSTIN HILL QUOTE:

“Today was a solid day for everyone involved with our No. 02 Victory Wear Ford F-150. We didn’t have a great qualify run and that put us behind a little bit at the beginning, but our truck had great long-run handling and speed, giving us a slight advantage as I felt a lot of the guys were all on a short run package. We had a little hiccup on pit road, dragging the gas can, but I am just happy our fuel man wasn’t injured as he went after the can. All-in-all even though we had a top-10 truck, we brought our Victory Wear Ford home in one piece, with a solid top-15 finish and are ready to get back into action at Charlotte (Motor Speedway) in May.”

Austin Hill PR