Daytona Xfinity race: Austin Hill wins in RCR debut

When Austin Hill was announced to move up to the NASCAR Xfinity Series with Richard Childress Racing, he said he’d been “working hard for an opportunity like this since [he] was a young kid.”

He’s already making the most of it.

Hill passed A.J. Allmendinger for the lead on the last lap before a multi-car crash on the backstretch brought out a caution to freeze the field – giving Hill his first career Xfinity win on debut for RCR.

In the moments after, however, attention wasn’t on Hill but on one of the drivers involved in the crash.

Myatt Snider, driving for Jordan Anderson Racing, was pushed into the backstretch wall before his car went airborne and struck the catch fence.

Truly thankful that @MyattSnider is out of the No. 31 after a flip on the final #XfinitySeries lap at Daytona. pic.twitter.com/GnZ3Zv9DYa

— Xfinity Racing (@XfinityRacing) February 20, 2022

The impact destroyed both ends of the car. But after it came to rest, Snider was able to climb out and walk away.

#NASCAR … ⁦@MyattSnider⁩ describes his crash pic.twitter.com/8F3Oev33IC

— Dustin Long (@dustinlong) February 20, 2022

Allmendinger finished second. Noah Gragson was third. Riley Herbst and Justin Allgaier completed the top five.

“Me and (spotter) Derek Kneeland worked really well tonight,” Hill said. “I was learning all night. I was telling him, ‘Hey, I’m putting that in the bank, I’m putting that in the bank – I’m just putting that in the memory bank to remember for late in the race.’

“We timed (the pass) perfectly. Obviously, that caution came out but we had a heck of a run, so who knows what would’ve happened there. I was able to drag back, (Herbst) gave me a heck of a push, we were able to get by (Allmendinger).”

Allmendinger said he could’ve tried