Despite being the regular season champion in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Austin Hill doesn’t consider himself the title favorite.
He bestows that credit on John Hunter Nemechek, driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, who leads the standings heading into the first round of the playoffs. With six wins on the season, it would be difficult not to put Nemechek at the top of one’s list.
But as quick as Hill is to recognize Nemechek’s accomplishments, he just as easily points to his No. 21 Richard Childress Racing team as the “dark horse” to watch as the Xfinity Series begins its playoff run.
“I don’t see us as being a clear favorite, but I think we’re a good enough team and a good enough organization to make it to the Final Four,” Hill said. “And if you make it to that Final Four, anything can happen.”
The 29-year-old has yet to make it to the final playoff round in the Xfinity Series, though he came impressively close last year and finished sixth in his first full season on the tour. This year, Hill’s results column is considerably more formidable, as he has four wins, 15 top fives and an average finish of eighth.
With his consistent performance pushing him to the second seed in the postseason — 10 points behind Nemechek — Hill feels he’s worthy of being in the conversation this time around.
“I feel like I’m a more complete Austin Hill going into these playoffs,” Hill said. “I’ve always been that guy that no one really talks about a whole lot — always been kind of the dark horse. It kind of gives me a chip on my shoulder.”
One area where Hill hopes to set the record straight relates to his superspeedway-prowess. While he’s grateful many have tipped their hat to his skills on a superspeedway, the Georgia native isn’t crazy about the label.
“I kind of laugh anytime someone says that, just because, if you look at my wins back on the Truck level, I won on all different types of race tracks,” Hill said.
While driving the No. 16 for Hattori Racing Enterprises from 2019 to 2021, Hill won at eight different tracks — including the Watkins Glen road course, a dirt race at Knoxville Raceway and several 1.5-mile tracks.
“It makes me want to dig deeper and prove to everybody that I can win on all these different sorts of race tracks,” Hill said. “I’ve always felt like I can win at any given race track that we go to.”
For that reason, the 29-year-old isn’t losing much sleep over the upcoming Round of 12, which involves trips to the .533-mile Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway’s 1.5-mile facility and the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway road course.
At the same time, Hill also knows he can’t cruise through the playoffs, relying on the 15 bonus points he scored when he won the regular season championship.
“Even though you have these points to fall back on, it can dwindle away and go away very quickly. You can’t get complacent, ease up and think that you’re going to have this nice, easy ride to the Final Four,” Hill said. “You’ve got to keep pushing hard and keep staying aggressive like we have all season long.”