Column By: MARTY CZEKALA / RPW – LONG POND, PA – Austin Hill needed a yellow to save enough fuel to have a chance to win it.
He got it.
A Joey Gase spin in turn two with 10 to go bunched the field giving Hill enough to save and make it the distance.
“I knew I was four laps short and then had to start max saving fuel,” Hill said. “I’ve never had to do that on a track like this.”
After Josh Berry dominated the race by leading 51 laps, Austin Hill stole the win from Berry in an overtime attempt to win his fourth Xfinity Series race of the year at Pocono.
Entering turn one, Hill restarted behind Berry on the outside of row two and pushed Berry into turn one, sending Berry high and giving Hill the lead. At the white flag, Berry would fight back in the same corner, moving Hill up the racetrack and banging doors off the corner. Hill would then get the draft from Berry’s teammate Sam Mayer down the Long Pond straight. As Berry tried to get back into the slipstream of Hill, the JR Motorsports drivers made contact, giving Berry a flat tire and hard into the turn two wall, ending Berry’s day and scoring him in 24th.
“I knew that the 1 was gonna have a big run out back,” Hill explained. “I don’t think he was gonna try and give me the push. It looked like he was gonna try and split us three wide because me and the 8 got away from each other, not side drafting as much. As the hole closed up, it made the 1 have to push. Can’t thank JR Motorsports enough for giving me push there.”
An emotional Mayer was bummed that a JR Motorsports car was not in victory lane at night’s end.
“Trying to win a race,” the runner-up Mayer stated. “It sucks because it’s a teammate, and he’s in the fence. I felt bad because I put my car there and didn’t think about the outcome. Sucks for the organization. Proud of staying in the game with the damage that we had, but it’s tough to watch. I feel like I caused that, and I probably did.”
Berry saw it as a racing scenario.
“I knew Sam was coming with a huge run, and I covered it to try to get next to the No. 21,” Berry told USA Network post-race. “He moved left, and I moved right. Hate to not get the finish we deserve.”
The Xfinity Series runs next week in a standalone race at Road America.
NASCAR Xfinity Series Race – Explore the Pocono Mountains 225
Pocono Raceway
Long Pond, Pennsylvania
Saturday, July 22, 2023
1. (11) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 92.
2. (8) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, 92.
3. (13) Chase Elliott(i), Chevrolet, 92.
4. (21) Riley Herbst, Ford, 92.
5. (2) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 92.
6. (6) Sammy Smith #, Toyota, 92.
7. (7) Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, 92.
8. (18) Brett Moffitt, Ford, 92.
9. (22) Parker Kligerman, Chevrolet, 92.
10. (23) Daniel Suarez(i), Chevrolet, 92.
11. (3) Sheldon Creed, Chevrolet, 92.
12. (12) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 92.
13. (26) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 92.
14. (25) Ty Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 92.
15. (14) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 92.
16. (20) Kyle Sieg, Ford, 92.
17. (30) Joe Graf Jr., Ford, 92.
18. (27) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 92.
19. (35) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, 92.
20. (16) Chandler Smith #, Chevrolet, 92.
21. (34) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 92.
22. (17) Ryan Sieg, Ford, 92.
23. (9) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 92.
24. (1) Josh Berry, Chevrolet, 91.
25. (24) Kaz Grala, Toyota, 91.
26. (36) Patrick Emerling, Chevrolet, 91.
27. (38) Blaine Perkins #, Chevrolet, 91.
28. (32) Alex Labbe, Ford, 91.
29. (31) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 91.
30. (33) Chad Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 91.
31. (37) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 90.
32. (5) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 89.
33. (10) Cole Custer, Ford, 87.
34. (4) Connor Mosack, Toyota, Accident, 85.
35. (19) Parker Retzlaff #, Chevrolet, 84.
36. (28) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 82.
37. (15) Corey Heim(i), Toyota, Suspension, 81.
38. (29) Sage Karam, Chevrolet, Transmission, 7.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 122.922 mph.
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 52 Mins, 16 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.657 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 6 for 21 laps.
Lead Changes: 11 among 8 drivers.
Lap Leaders: J. Berry 1-22;C. Custer 23-24;J. Berry 25-41;J. Allgaier 42-45;D. Suarez(i) 46-50;J. Allgaier 51-54;J. Berry 55-60;C. Elliott(i) 61-69;B. Jones 70-81;R. Herbst 82-84;J. Berry 85-90;A. Hill 91-92.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Josh Berry 4 times for 51 laps; Brandon Jones 1 time for 12 laps; Chase Elliott(i) 1 time for 9 laps; Justin Allgaier 2 times for 8 laps; Daniel Suarez(i) 1 time for 5 laps; Riley Herbst 1 time for 3 laps; Cole Custer 1 time for 2 laps; Austin Hill 1 time for 2 laps.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 8,11,20,18,2,9,1,7,19,21
Stage #2 Top Ten: 8,7,20,9,00,18,1,98,11,16