• Wednesday, September 4th, 2024
• NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer

Austin Hill seeks to maintain dominance at his home track

In the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Austin Hill is the undisputed master of superspeedways, and that’s particularly true of his home track, Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Since the repaving and reconfiguration of the 1.54-mile track in 2021, Hill has won three of five races contested there, and he’ll go for a fourth in Saturday’s Focused Health 250 (3 p.m. ET on USA, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

All eight of Hill’s career victories have come on tracks of 1.5 miles or more in length, and six have come on venues where the superspeedway competition package is used.

So, it’s no surprise that the Winston, Georgia, native will draw a major share of attention on Saturday.

However, Hill will have to share the spotlight with the battle for the final four berths in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs, particularly the close contest on either side of the current cut line.

With a fifth-place finish in last Saturday’s race at Darlington, JR Motorsports driver Sammy Smith moved past 18th-place finisher Ryan Sieg into the final Playoff-eligible position. With three races left in the regular season, Smith leads Sieg by 10 points—a tenuous margin with Atlanta on the horizon.

“We had a strong car last week at Darlington, where we were competitive in the top 10 all day,” Smith said. “I was happy that we could bring home a strong finish for (sponsor) Pilot Flying J and JR Motorsports.

“I’m looking forward to getting back in the car at Atlanta to continue the momentum and fight for a better position in the Playoff points.”

• Focused Health 250
• Pole Winner: Jesse Love #
• Age: 19
• Team : No 2 - Samsara Chevrolet
• Owner: Richard Childress
• Crew Chief: Danny Stockman, Jr
• Jesse Love won the Pole Award for the Focused Health 250 with a lap of 31926 seconds, 173652 mph
• This is his fourth pole in 24 NASCAR Xfinity Series races
• This is his fourth pole and 14th top-10 start in 2024
• This is his second pole in two races at Atlanta Motor Speedway
• Taylor Gray (second) posted his fifth top-10 start of 2024 and his first in one race at Atlanta Motor Speedway
• Cole Custer (third) posted his sixth top-10 start at Atlanta Motor Speedway It is his 18th in 24 races this season
• Jesse Love (first) was the fastest qualifying rookie

• Drivers Entered: 37
• Laps Scheduled: 163
• Margin of Victory: N/A Seconds
• Time of Race: N/A
• Average Speed: N/A
• Cautions: N/A
• Lead Changes: N/A
• Green Flag Passes: N/A