Austin Hill won the United Rentals Driven to Serve 250 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Naval Base Coronado. – Team Chevy Photo
by Holly Cain – NASCAR Wire Service
CORONADO, Calif. — Austin Hill’s thrilling last-lap pass earned the veteran his first career road-course victory in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Saturday on a dramatic and ultimately emotional afternoon for his Richard Childress Racing team — capping a long and competitive day of racing in the inaugural United Rentals Driven to Serve 250 at Naval Base Coronado.
It marked the first win for the legendary RCR team since unexpectedly losing its NASCAR Cup Series driver, Kyle Busch, four weeks ago after the two-time premier series champion passed away unexpectedly, due to complications from pneumonia. The emotion in Victory Lane Saturday was palpable — the celebration was both a nod to Hill’s achievement and an ode to Busch and what he meant to the team and to the sport.
“It’s extremely special, just to finally check that box of getting that road-course win, we’ve been so close so many times,” Hill said, whose No. 21 RCR Chevrolet had to be towed to Victory Lane after the rear wheels of the car were flattened after he performed a long burnout around Busch’s No. 8 logo painted on the track.
RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Naval Base Coronado
Hill, who now also drives the car Busch once drove in the Cup Series, claimed Saturday’s win, which may have included a little divine intervention from his former teammate.
“I’m not going to lie, I started talking to this guy a little bit down the straightaways,” Hill said, pointing to his hat, which carries the No. 8 Busch carried for the team. “I was like, ‘Man, Kyle, if you’re here, give me something, let me find another gear.’
“And for whatever reason, the car started coming to life and the two leaders got together and when there was blood in the water behind the 54 [runner-up Taylor Gray] I knew it was going to be tough to get around him, that it was going to be a battle. And when I got clear of him, I was very surprised to see how much of a gap I got on him.
“I can’t thank these guys enough, everyone on this 21-team, at RCR. We’ve been through a lot these last several weeks. … Man, this is awesome, so cool.”
His Hall of Fame owner, Childress, was openly emotional as he greeted Hill in Victory Lane.
“It’s great to win here and we all have Kyle in our hearts,” said Childress, his voice cracking in the poignant scene.
“You may not show it on the outside, but you do here,” he said, pointing to his heart.
Hill consistently showed Saturday he had a strong car — winning the opening stage — throughout an eventful day that included two red flags, totaling more than an hour of race stoppage.
With five laps remaining in the 60-lap event, JR Motorsports’ Carson Kvapil led Gray and looked to claim his first career win and extend an already record 11-race road-course winning streak for the JRM team. However, with three laps to go, Gray pulled his No. 54 Toyota alongside Kvapil’s No. 1 Chevy, and the contact bounced Kvapil’s car off a tire barrier and out of the lead.
Two laps later, Austin Hill was able to get around Gray as they took the white flag signaling the last lap of the race. The 32-year-old Winston, Georgia-native went on to win by a convincing 1.127-second margin over Gray, who led the most laps (16) on the day and won Stage 2.
Taylor Gray blamed “wheel hop” for his contact with Carson Kvapil.
“Pretty disappointed in myself, really proud of everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Racing. … Obviously would love to be in Victory Lane right now, that’s where my guys deserve to be,” Gray said.
“Got really bad wheel hop, that’s what it boils down to,” he added. “He raced me tight like he should and I wheel-hopped underneath him.”
Kvapil and Gray spoke briefly after the race.
“It’s really hard to make peace with that, obviously, I feel like that robbed me and everyone at this Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet,” Kvapil said. “They brought us a really fast car and gave us position to win a race and obviously we didn’t. That one really hurts.”
Haas Factory Team’s Sheldon Creed finished third, followed by Kvapil and JRM’s Sammy Smith — who turned in an impressive rally forward after an eventful, full-contact day of his own.
Hill’s RCR teammate Jesse Love also rallied on the day, finishing sixth after starting from the last row of the 37-car field. Viking Motorsports’ Parker Retzlaff, who led five laps, finished seventh with Austin Green, Harrison Burton and Corey Day rounding out the top 10.
Two red flag periods slowed the action, with the first coming out on the first lap and the latter one coming out to properly repair the wall and fencing following a 23-car incident that eliminated many of the day’s strong cars.
While racing up front, HFT’s Sam Mayer nicked the inside wall at Turn 1 and careened hard into the other wall, collecting Anthony Alfredo’s No. 96 Chevrolet and starting a chain reaction among the mid pack behind. The impact was enough to bring out a 43-minute red flag.
“First of all, I just want to say sorry to everyone in the field,” Mayer said, noting that he planned to stop by every single team affected and apologize to them. “I’m looking at the people involved in the crash and it’s literally everyone. Just sorry to everyone who has to put work in now because of my mistake. Just brutal. Definitely hate it for everyone.
“I mean, what am I doing? I’ve got to be better. I’ve got to be a lot better. I’m going to learn from this and I’m going to better. Gotta stay locked in no matter what happens to you. Just keep moving forward.”
Almost immediately after the race start, there was an hour-long delay to repair a sewer vent cover in Turn 5 that came off in traffic and impaled into Day’s No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Once the cars rolled off again — NASCAR allowed Day to get the four laps back he lost while his crew repaired his Chevy. He restarted last and then got a speeding penalty during a subsequent stop for service on Lap 13.
The series championship leader, JRM’s Justin Allgaier, had an eventful day and retired 17 laps early after being collected in multiple incidents on the day. Despite the DNF, the series’ best five-race winner continues to hold an amazing 224-point advantage over reigning series champion Love atop the championship standings.
And a historical note, Jeremy Clements, 41, finished 15th in his 548th series start, driving his family-owned No. 51 Jeremy Clements Racing Chevrolet. It gives him the most starts for a driver in series history, eclipsing the previous record set by Kenny Wallace.
The O’Reilly Auto Parts Series returns to action in next Saturday’s Pit Boss/FoodMaxx 250 at the renowned Sonoma Raceway, a couple of hours north up the California coast (5:30 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).