Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill is two-for-three this season.
After winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series season opener at Daytona Int’l Speedway and finishing sixth last weekend at Auto Club Speedway in California, Hill claimed his second victory of the year on Saturday afternoon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
He finished .268 seconds ahead of JR Motorsports driver Justin Allgaier.
The Alsco Uniforms 300 commenced at 4:30 p.m. (ET) at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, with polesitter Chandler Smith leading the field to the green flag. The first caution flag waved one lap into the race when the No. 48 Chevrolet of Parker Kligerman spun in turn two. Smith held first position on the restart.
Allgaier passed Smith to take the lead on lap 13, but it was John Hunter Nemechek and his No. 20 Toyota that inevitably claimed stage one victory on lap 45.
Nemechek and Hill battled early in the second stage, with each taking their turn out front.
However, on lap 72, Smith maneuvered his way back into the lead. On lap 73, JR Motorsports driver Josh Berry spun in turn four, calling for the stage’s first caution. Allgaier was penalized for a violation during the restart, requiring the No. 7 Chevrolet driver to serve a pass-through penalty under the green flag.
Two laps before the second stage’s conclusion, Hill worked his way back to the front and overtook Smith. Hill held on in his No. 21 Chevrolet for the stage win on lap 88.
Rajah Caruth, part-time Xfinity Series driver for Alpha Prime Racing and full-time Truck Series driver for Petty GMS, spun in turn two on the same lap.
Smith appeared in control of the final stage as he comfortably held the lead for 92 laps.
However, it all came down to the last five laps as Hill steadily closed the gap on the Kaulig Racing driver with Allgaier catching Smith and Hill. With just more than one lap to go, Hill swept underneath Smith in Turn 3 and went on to claim his second victory of the season.
From third, Allgaier used the outside line to his advantage and passed Smith to take second on the final lap. Despite leading 119 of 200 laps, Smith collected a third-place finish.
Kyle Busch, who started near the rear, came in third and Berry rebounded from his early-race incident to finish fifth.