It was announced on August 17 that [autotag]Austin Hill[/autotag] had signed a multi-year contract to remain with Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. This came as a surprise due to Hill’s impressive 2023 season with four victories. In fact, the driver of the No. 21 car was linked to Kaulig Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series before the announcement.
Many believed that Hill was ready to make the jump to the Cup Series due to his performances with Richard Childress Racing; however, he decided to stick with the organization that gave him a chance in the Xfinity Series. Hill talked about his decision to re-sign with the race team in an interview reported by Motorsport.com.
“I’ve been talking to a lot of different teams, potentially about going (NASCAR Cup Series) racing and I’ve actually came very close to going Cup racing,” Hill said. “At the end of the day, (Richard Childress) made it pretty tough on me, just because of the man he is and everything that we’ve done last season and this season together.”
WHAT A FINISH AT POCONO! 🏁
Retweet to congratulate Austin Hill for the win as Josh Berry hits the wall behind him. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/a8T3E5v44p
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 22, 2023
“I’m very, very loyal to a fault. There’s a lot of things outside of just driving the race car that this just made sense to me. That’s one of the reasons it made it at the end of the day an easy decision to stay here with (Richard Childress Racing) and to keep building that momentum with them going forward.”
Hill certainly deserved the opportunity to go racing in the Cup Series but it is impossible to blame him for staying with Richard Childress Racing. The No. 21 team appears to be one of the championship favorites and Hill will have a good chance of being at Phoenix Raceway with a shot at lifting the trophy.
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