Austin Hill picks up first NASCAR K&N Pro Series East victory in “Drive Sober 150” at Dover

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For Austin Hill, Friday’s “Drive Sober 150” presented by the Delaware Office of Highway Safety at Dover International Speedway will long be remembered as his first win in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East. For Brett Moffitt, it’ll be remembered as an 11th-place finish that may have changed his season.

Hill drove past Seaford, Del.-native C.J. Fasion on Lap 88 and stayed in charge the rest of the way to head to Sunoco Victory Lane. He started sixth, but was able to catch the leader after Faison had led 77 laps.

“[Faison] was running pretty strong, but I knew I had something for him,” Hill said of Faison. “Once I got out front I knew there was nothing holding me back except for the last restart. I knew that was going to be tough. But once I got back to the lead I knew there wasn’t going to be anything stopping me.”

A large part of Hill’s success may have had to do with the fact that he was in front, because the race was somewhat disjointed. Restarts were especially rocky, with cars missing shifts at green flags throughout the race. Hill wasn’t immune, as he had his own problems getting up to speed – including one final restart with three laps remaining where he was able to hold on.

“[Crew chief] Andy Santerre and I talked about it and he helped me a lot on the restarts,” he said. “On the last couple restarts I finally got it together. I can’t thank these guys enough today. They deserve it.”

Moffitt’s day was big mostly because of the misfortunes of point leader Dylan Kwasniewski, whose car ceased to operate on Lap 37. After a lengthy diagnostic process, Kwasniewski’s crew finally identified a broken distributor. He got back out, but the damage was done, as he finished 29th, 48 laps down.

As a result, Moffitt’s deficit in the point standings was reduced from 23 to five points heading into the final race of the season on Oct. 11 at Road Atlanta.

Faison had a promising day end somewhat badly. His car was strong in the first half of the race, but fell off once Hill passed him. On lap 137, Faison appeared to cut down a tire, and he hit the wall. After visiting the infield care center, he was taken to a local hospital for further evaluation. He was credited with finishing 24th.

Justin Boston finished second, followed by Kyle Benjamin, Brandon McReynolds, and Jesse Little. Daniel Suarez, Brandon Jones, Trey Hutchens, Austin Dyne and Dylan Presnell rounded out the top 10.

Speedway Digest Staff
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