By Caleb Whisler, Staff Writer
After starting from the pole position in the Ultimate Trucking 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Austin Hill found himself finishing seventh when the checkered flag flew Saturday.
On the initial start of the race, Hill dropped from the pole position to the sixth position. With Brett Moffitt behind him, Hill lost his momentum going into the first turn.
“It really wasn’t anything,” he said. “Right as I let off the gas and started to shift, he was tight with me and got me sideways. It wasn’t his fault or anything. It was bad timing when he touched me and when I shifted.”
Despite the abysmal start to the race, Hill believed he had the speed for a top-five run; however, his short-run speed hurt his chances for that elusive top-five.
“All in all, we had a pretty good truck all night,” he continued. “We really had long-run speed. We struggled on the short-run speed for the most part. It seemed like that is where we were hurting. It was good for our team.
“I felt like we had a top-five truck all night. It would take us so long to get going. I kept choosing the wrong lanes at the wrong time. It would hurt our exit and momentum. Once we got going and had 10 laps under our belt, we had a top-five truck. We struggled on the initial get up.”
With his seventh-place finish, Hill finds himself second in the points standings just one point behind leader Grant Enfinger.