Austin Hill successfully gambles on fuel as rivals wreck out in Pocono

Austin Hill took a risk by staying out instead of pitting for fuel in the closing laps of Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Pocono Raceway, and a dramatic overtime restart put him out front for the first and only time en route to his fourth win of the year.

Overtime commenced with Hill behind Josh Berry. The former gave a push, but it was what Berry called “a little longer and harder than I wanted into turn one” and sent him careening wide. Hill slipped by and led the rest of the way. The win provides a strong end to Hill‘s Saturday after retiring from the Craftsman Truck Series race earlier in the day due to a late crash.

“We didn’t have the best car all day,” said Hill. “Andy (Petree) and all the guys back at RCR Engines worked really hard. We got the car better. I thought we were maybe a top-five or top-seven car. I didn’t think we had anything for the leader today.

“With fuel saving, we didn’t know if we were going to make it and it was on my mind going into the Tunnel Turn (turn two) that I had to get back to the start/finish line. I had enough fuel to do a burnout so we saved enough.”

The contact dropped Berry back before being clipped into the wall with Ryan Sieg on the final lap to end the race under caution. Relegated to twenty-fourth, the finish ruined an otherwise oustanding day as he claimed the pole, led fifty-one laps, and won two stages.

As is usually the case at Pocono, thanks to its length and tendency to have long green-flag runs, fuel strategy became a prime topic in Stage #3 as teams debated when to pit or if they should stay out and hope for either a caution or that they would have enough to reach the finish. Those in the latter camp like Hill had their request fulfilled when Justin Allgaier spun a slow Joey Gase and received another break two laps later after Connor Mosack crashed, both resulting in yellow flags.

Hill seemed to be the only championship contender whose day did not end in catastrophe. Points leader John Hunter Nemechek and third-placed Cole Custer were colleted in a lap 47 crash that caused the latter to drop a spot in the standings.

Cup Series driver Chase Elliott finished third in his first Xfinity race since 2021, while colleague Daniel Suárez managed a top ten.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	11	21	Austin Hill	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	92	Running
2	8	1	Sam Mayer	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	92	Running
3	13	17	Chase Elliott*	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	92	Running
4	21	98	Riley Herbst	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	92	Running
5	2	11	Daniel Hemric	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	92	Running
6	6	18	Sammy Smith	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	92	Running
7	7	9	Brandon Jones	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	92	Running
8	18	25	Brett Moffitt	AM Racing	Ford	92	Running
9	22	48	Parker Kligerman	Big Machine Racing Team	Chevrolet	92	Running
10	23	10	Daniel Suárez*	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	92	Running
11	3	2	Sheldon Creed	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	92	Running
12	12	27	Jeb Burton	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	92	Running
13	26	78	Anthony Alfredo	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Chevrolet	92	Running
14	25	3	Ty Dillon*	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	92	Running
15	14	51	Jeremy Clements	Jeremy Clements Racing	Chevrolet	92	Running
16	20	28	Kyle Sieg	RSS Racing	Ford	92	Running
17	30	38	Joe Graf Jr.	RSS Racing	Ford	92	Running
18	27	43	Ryan Ellis	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	92	Running
19	35	45	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	92	Running
20	16	16	Chandler Smith	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	92	Running
21	34	4	Garrett Smithley	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	92	Running
22	17	39	Ryan Sieg	RSS Racing	Ford	92	Running
23	9	7	Justin Allgaier	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	92	Running
24	1	8	Josh Berry	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	91	Running
25	24	26	Kaz Grala	Sam Hunt Racing	Toyota	91	Running
26	36	53	Patrick Emerling	Emerling-Gase Motorsports	Chevrolet	91	Running
27	38	02	Blaine Perkins	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	91	Running
28	32	08	Alex Labbé	SS-Green Light Racing	Ford	91	Running
29	31	6	Brennan Poole	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	91	Running
30	33	91	Chad Chastain*	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	91	Running
31	37	35	Joey Gase	Emerling-Gase Motorsports	Chevrolet	90	Running
32	5	20	John Hunter Nemechek	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	89	Running
33	10	00	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	87	Running
34	4	19	Connor Mosack	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	85	Accident
35	19	31	Parker Retzlaff	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	84	Running
36	28	92	Josh Williams	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	82	Running
37	15	24	Corey Heim*	Sam Hunt Racing	Toyota	81	Suspension
38	29	44	Sage Karam	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	7	Transmission
DNQ		74	Dawson Cram	CHK Racing	Chevrolet
DNQ		66	Timmy Hill	MBM Motorsports	Toyota
DNQ		07	Stefan Parsons	SS-Green Light Racing	Chevrolet

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