Austin Hill goes back-to-back in home race, Josh Williams walks away

Austin Hill might have been the winner of Saturday’s RAPTOR King of Tough 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, but Josh Williams is the talk of the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

In one of the most bizarre events to occur in recent memory, Williams was metaphorically parked on lap 33 by NASCAR after debris from his car—sustained in a crash four laps earlier—fell off, to which he responded literally by parking the car along the start/finish line before getting out and walking away.

Under Section 8.8.9.I of the rulebook, NASCAR is permitted to penalise a driver “if a damaged vehicle elects not to enter pit road on the first opportunity or if a damaged vehicle exits pit road before sufficient repairs had been made and thereafter causes or extends a caution.”

He was eventually ordered to meet with officials and awaits a potential penalty, though various drivers like Denny Hamlin and Chris Buescher have offered to cover any fine for him.

While Williams certainly stole the show, on-track drama expanded to the entire field as twelve cautions were flown, the most for the series at Atlanta. A crash occurred almost immediately when Joey Gase was turned just two laps in after Caesar Bacarella‘s axle broke and spun into him, setting the tone for the rest of the day. Williams was involved in the race’s third accident when Kyle Weatherman spun in front of him and Jeb Burton, causing the latter two to stack up and result in hood damage to Williams which came off while the race was still under yellow.

Frontrunners Justin Allgaier and Chandler Smith were also taken out in crashes, while series newcomer Chad Chastain spun for the first caution of Stage #2. Parker Retzlaff‘s wreck with two laps to go resulted in overtime.

Hill, winner of Stage #1, duelled with Parker Kligerman for the two-lap sprint. Daniel Hemric attempted to close in on the two in the final two corners before turning Kligerman and triggered yet another crash, with the sideways Kligerman hitting Hill but the leader was able to keep the car steady across the finish line.

It is his third win of 2023 in just five races. Hill had won at Atlanta, his home track, in 2022 while the victory adds to an already impressive portfolio of superspeedway(-style) success that includes back-to-back at Daytona.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	3	21	Austin Hill	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	163	Running
2	11	11	Daniel Hemric	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	163	Running
3	4	19	Ryan Truex	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	163	Running
4	13	48	Parker Kligerman	Big Machine Racing Team	Chevrolet	163	Running
5	5	98	Riley Herbst	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	163	Running
6	12	25	Brett Moffitt	AM Racing	Ford	163	Running
7	9	8	Josh Berry	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	163	Running
8	2	20	John Hunter Nemechek	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	163	Running
9	10	1	Sam Mayer	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	163	Running
10	18	10	Justin Haley*	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	163	Running
11	14	39	Ryan Sieg	RSS Racing	Ford	163	Running
12	8	00	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	163	Running
13	29	6	Brennan Poole	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	163	Running
14	15	78	Anthony Alfredo	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Chevrolet	163	Running
15	23	51	Jeremy Clements	Jeremy Clements Racing	Chevrolet	163	Running
16	16	27	Jeb Burton	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	163	Running
17	1	18	Sammy Smith	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	163	Running
18	32	35	Patrick Emerling	Emerling-Gase Motorsports	Ford	163	Running
19	21	9	Brandon Jones	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	163	Running
20	35	08	Gray Gaulding	SS-Green Light Racing	Chevrolet	163	Running
21	7	2	Sheldon Creed	RIchard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	163	Running
22	36	07	Blaine Perkins	SS-Green Light Racing	Chevrolet	163	Running
23	24	43	Ryan Ellis	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	163	Running
24	37	91	Chad Chastain	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	163	Running
25	27	38	Joe Graf Jr.	RSS Racing	Ford	163	Running
26	26	28	Kyle Sieg	RSS Racing	Ford	161	Running
27	17	31	Parker Retzlaff	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	154	Accident
28	6	16	Chandler Smith	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	127	Rear Gear
29	19	7	Justin Allgaier	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	77	Accident
30	25	24	Connor Mosack	Sam Hunt Racing	Toyota	69	Accident
31	30	45	Sage Karam	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	43	Radiator
32	22	92	Josh Williams	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	33	Accident
33	20	02	Kyle Weatherman	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	26	Accident
34	31	44	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	11	Accident
35	28	26	Kaz Grala	Sam Hunt Racing	Toyota	11	Accident
36	34	4	Garrett Smithley	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	11	Accident
37	33	53	Joey Gase	Emerling-Gase Motorsports	Chevrolet	1	Accident
38	38	66	Caesar Bacarella	MBM Motorsports	Chevrolet	1	Accident
DNQ		74	Dawson Cram	CHK Racing	Chevrolet

Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for points