Austin Hill avoids mayhem, finishes 16th at Dover

After avoiding mayhem, which was quite present throughout the race, Austin Hill rallied from a vibration issue in the late stages to finish 16th in the Lucas Oil 200 at Dover International Speedway on Friday evening.

With the result, the NASCAR Next member recorded his best finish through six starts in NASCAR Camping World Truck Series competition, and also handed Empire Racing their highest mark in eight appearances.

Given those career numbers, the Winston, Georgia racer was satisfied with the result and was grateful for the chance to run with the Empire Racing Group.

“I am totally happy with the finish, especially given the struggles we had during practice and qualifying,” Hill explained. “I came into the race looking for a top-15 finish, and that is practically what we got. I was just really trying to patient and consistent.”

Along with the career showing, Hill also kept the truck clean, something that was not the case in his previous Truck Series start at Daytona International Speedway earlier this season.

“From the beginning, finishing with a clean race truck was the goal,” Hill said. “I feel like I accomplished that without a doubt. But if we could have just avoided some minor mistakes on pit road we probably could have been in contention for a top ten finish.”

The race, which featured eight caution flags, finished with just 21 trucks running – and even two of those had major damage – which made a clean run all the more impressive. 

Hill is now looking toward the Drive Sober 150 for the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at Dover in September, a race he has won the past two seasons.

“I cannot wait to come back here in September for the K&N race,” Hill expressed. “I just love this track and facility – it really suits my driving abilities.”

Moving forward from the Monster Mile, Hill will return to the racetrack tomorrow night in the NASCAR Hall of Fame 150 at Bowman Gray Stadium for the K&N Pro Series East.

Austin Hill PR