By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
For the second straight year, Austin Hill came home second in his home race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Though he didn’t lead Saturday’s Camping World Truck Series race at his home track, the Hattori Racing Enterprises driver was first in line behind race winner Kyle Busch, trailing the dominating truck by 4.133 seconds at the checkered.
“That last restart we had, I was trying to save my tires a little bit. I didn’t want to kill them right off the bat. When it was go time, I started matching Kyle’s lap times. We had the green-flag pit stops, got out second. Pit crew did an awesome job.”
Jumping John Hunter Nemechek for that second spot, Hill was unable to close in on Busch’s gap.
“I gave that gap up and could never close it,” he said. “I was matching [Busch’s] times but I needed to be a little quicker.”
Following a third-place run last time out at Las Vegas, Hill now has back-to-back top-three finishes on the year. However, leaving his home track with another loss, Hill will need some time to regroup for the series’ next round of 2021.
“All-in-all, a solid day. I wish we were racing here again because I love Atlanta Motor Speedway, my home track,” he said. “I can’t thank the fans enough for coming out and watching today. I just wish we could have gotten the job done.”
Checkered flag: @_AustinHill finishes 2nd at @amsupdates as @ToyotaRacing sweeps the top three.
That's five-straight podium finishes at 1.5-mile tracks. #NASCAR #TeamToyota #Fr8Auctions200 pic.twitter.com/esj5RNP9zV
— Hattori Racing (@Hattori_Racing) March 20, 2021