Perhaps to nobody’s surprise, Austin Hill will be back in Richard Childress Racing‘s #21 Chevrolet Camaro for the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series season. The team announced his return on Wednesday.
“I’m excited to return to RCR this season to compete for a Xfinity Series championship once again,” said Hill. “My rookie season was a success, but I know that our #21 team can improve even more with our first year together under our belt. I’m very appreciative of the opportunity that Richard and everyone at RCR continues to give me. To not only be back with Andy (Street, crew chief) and my crew guys, but to have our loyal partners return is a huge asset to our programme. I can’t wait to get to Daytona and kick off the 2023 season the same way we started last season.”
Hill graduated to the Xfinity Series in 2022 after four successful seasons in the Truck Series. He broke out almost immediately when he won the season opener at Daytona, followed by another victory at Atlanta. As the only first-year driver to make the playoffs, he easily walked away with Rookies of the Year honours. Hill ended the season with twenty-one top tens, eleven top fives, a pole, and two wins en route to a sixth-place points run.
2022 also saw Hill make his Cup début in RCR’s one-off #33 car at Michigan, where he finished eighteenth. He will run six Cup races in 2023 for RCR ally Beard Motorsports including the Daytona 500. While Beard usually races just the superspeedways like Daytona and Talladega, Hill will also enter the inaugural Chicago Street Race in July and Michigan a month later.
He previously made fifteen Xfinity starts between 2019 and 2021 for his Truck team Hattori Racing Enterprises. That three-year stretch also saw him win eight times in the Trucks with HRE.
RCR will also field the #2 for Sheldon Creed, also entering his second full season.