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Austin Hill Unable to Shrug Off Talladega Curse After Late Race Contact Steals Ag-Pro 300 Chance

Published 04/20/2024, 6:48 PM EDT

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Richard Childress Racing driver, Austin Hill’s bid for a third Superspeedway win in the Xfinity Series has taken a huge hit at Talladega. Driving the No. 33 Chevrolet Camaro, Hill made contact with the No. 48 car of Parker Kligerman with just two laps to go in the race. Having commanded the field for the majority of the race, Hill tried to check up on the 48 car but instead got wrecked himself.

The good news for the RCR driver is that he somehow managed to save his car from getting severely damaged. With the caution flag out and the race heading to an overtime finish, the RCR crew is hard at work trying to repair Hill’s car.

Hill questions Kligerman’s move that resulted in him crashing out of winning contention

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Austin Hill probably had the fastest race car on the field. For the most part, he did manage and command the race from the leading position. However, with the race coming to an end, all the drivers started to try their luck, and in desperate attempts, Parker Kligerman tried to bump Hills out of his way, but instead, his contact resulted in a big wreck that took the race to overtime.

Speaking to Bob Pockrass after the race, the RCR driver said, “I mean, obviously it’s getting into these Superspeedway races, right? No one’s really giving an inch, just from the replay, it looked like he slid across my nose. It was fine when he was pushing me, getting around the corner on the right side. But then, as he slid across my nose, I couldn’t turn the steering wheel, that’s why I went up towards the wall.”

However, he acknowledged the harsh realities of Superspeedway races after being fortunate himself in other events. “It was just one of those racing duels that happens on these Superspeedway races… I mean, there’s plenty of times that I should’ve ended up in a wreck, especially Daytona and stuff and I haven’t. And I’ve been fortunate enough to not end up in wrecks. Just here at Talladega, for some reason, I seem to find the big ones when they happen.”

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Still not victorious at Talladega, he also spoke about his teammate’s win, suggesting that he might learn a thing or two about how to win at this racetrack.

Hill was happy that the win came home at RCR camp despite his unfortunate end

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Jesse Love and Hill were working in tandem to keep the other drivers at bay during the race. While the latter has already won the Superspeedway races at Daytona and Atlanta, Talladega still eludes him. On the flip side, he was happy for his teammate Love, who clinched his first-ever NASCAR win. Considering the rookie has cracked the winning code at the racetrack, the Georgia native will take council from him to end his winless run at this particular venue.

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“It’s cool, like if I can’t win the race, I’d rather somebody at RCR win the race. So that was really cool to see Jesse get his first win. He had to work for it, these Talladega races aren’t easy to win, and obviously, I haven’t won at Talladega race yet. Still trying to figure out how to get a win here; maybe he can teach me a few things when we come back to the next one,” he concluded.

With a 14th-place finish, Austin Hill still holds on to his third spot in the driver’s standings. Meanwhile, Love makes a jump to fourth after his maiden win.

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Written by:

Chintan Devgania

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Chintan Mahesh Devgania is a NASCAR Writer at EssentiallySports. As someone who likes to dive deep into the sport, he often takes up less explored topics to eventually see them make their way into top stories. His report on Toyota’s young recruit, Jade Avedisian, sharing her thoughts on Late Model Racing, was an example of that.
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Edited by:

Ranvijay Singh