Austin Hill and his No. 21 NASCAR Chevy Camaro are familiar sights in Victory Lane for the Xfinity Series already this year. After winning the season-opening race at Daytona, Hill threw his No. 21 Camaro past the competition in epic fashion to take his second 2023 season win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday, March 4th.
Hill’s No. 21 Camaro cut the nearly three-second lead of Chandler Smith’s No. 16 Camaro in the closing laps at Vegas. Smith’s No. 16 Camaro had tightened up as the race wore on, allowing the field to catch him. Hill’s No. 21 Camaro as well as the No. 7 Camaro of Justin Allgaier were both able to get around Smith’s No. 16 Camaro with just two laps left, relegating him to a third-place finish as Hill’s No. 21 Camaro showed the way across the line.
Hill explained that he almost lost control of the No. 21 NASCAR Chevy Camaro after a restart on Lap 98, but the incident gave him valuable insight into his race car’s limits. “That’s just really what I stuck to all race long, was just trying to be disciplined through 3 and 4,” he said. “I saw the 16 struggling in traffic and my spotter Derek [Kneeland] was like, ‘Come on, baby. You can get it!’ I saw him get tight off of [Turn] 4 there, and I knew I painted the line perfectly. I knew if I could clear him down the front stretch, I felt like once we had clean air, we could hold him off.”
Smith, meanwhile, lamented the poor handling of his No. 16 Camaro. “I just got a little tight there at the very end,” he said. “It is what it is. That’s a tough pill to swallow. There are some things I could have done inside before we started building tight. Getting by [lapped traffic] – we needed to have a bigger bumper.”
Kyle Busch’s No. 10 Camaro came home fourth, followed by Josh Berry’s No. 9 Camaro for an all-Bow Tie top five.
| Finish | Start | Car Number | Driver | Team | Laps Run | Laps Led | Car |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 | 21 | Austin Hill | Global Industrial Chevrolet | 200 | 19 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 2 | 2 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | BRANDT Chevrolet | 200 | 10 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 3 | 1 | 16 | Chandler Smith # | Quick Tie Products Inc. Chevrolet | 200 | 118 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 4 | 11 | 10 | Kyle Busch(i) | LA Golf Chevrolet | 200 | 4 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 5 | 5 | 8 | Josh Berry | Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Boats Chevrolet | 200 | 2 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 6 | 7 | 20 | John Hunter Nemechek | Mobil 1 Toyota | 200 | 45 | Toyota Supra |
| 7 | 13 | 1 | Sam Mayer | Accelerate Pros Talent Chevrolet | 200 | 1 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 8 | 10 | 98 | Riley Herbst | Monster Energy Ford | 200 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 9 | 12 | 2 | Sheldon Creed | Whelen Chevrolet | 200 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 10 | 8 | 11 | Daniel Hemric | South Point Hotel and Casino Chevrolet | 200 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 11 | 6 | 48 | Parker Kligerman | Big Machine Racing Spiked Chevrolet | 200 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 12 | 3 | 0 | Cole Custer | Haas Automation Ford | 200 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 13 | 15 | 24 | Tyler Reddick(i) | GearWrench Toyota | 199 | 0 | Toyota Supra |
| 14 | 24 | 27 | Jeb Burton | Alsco Uniforms Chevrolet | 199 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 15 | 17 | 19 | Joe Graf Jr. | CoverSeal Toyota | 199 | 0 | Toyota Supra |
| 16 | 26 | 2 | Kyle Weatherman | Our Motorsports Chevrolet | 199 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 17 | 14 | 18 | Sammy Smith # | Pilot Flying J Toyota | 199 | 0 | Toyota Supra |
| 18 | 32 | 28 | Alex Labbe | G Coin/Larue Ford | 199 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 19 | 23 | 78 | Anthony Alfredo | Dude Wipes Chevrolet | 198 | 1 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 20 | 22 | 38 | Kyle Sieg | TopPool.com Ford | 198 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 21 | 19 | 9 | Brandon Jones | Menards/Jeld-Wen Windows Chevrolet | 198 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 22 | 4 | 25 | Brett Moffitt | AM Technical Solutions Ford | 198 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 23 | 21 | 26 | Kaz Grala | Fire Department Coffee Toyota | 198 | 0 | Toyota Supra |
| 24 | 18 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | CMRroofing.com Ford | 197 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 25 | 25 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | First Pacific Funding Chevrolet | 197 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 26 | 16 | 45 | Rajah Caruth(i) | Wendell Scott Foundation/Microsoft Chevrolet | 197 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 27 | 36 | 43 | Ryan Ellis | Shine Water Chevrolet | 197 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 28 | 29 | 4 | Bayley Currey | KSDT CPA Chevrolet | 197 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 29 | 35 | 44 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | Jesus Revolution – The Movie Chevrolet | 197 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 30 | 27 | 92 | Josh Williams | Call 811/Alloy Employer Chevrolet | 197 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 31 | 31 | 91 | Josh Bilicki | JAG Metals LLC Chevrolet | 196 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 32 | 34 | 8 | Gray Gaulding | Panini NFT Ford | 196 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 33 | 33 | 6 | Brennan Poole | Macc Door Systems Chevrolet | 196 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 34 | 38 | 53 | Patrick Emerling | Sci Aps Chevrolet | 194 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 35 | 30 | 7 | Blaine Perkins # | AUTOPARKit.com Chevrolet | 192 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 36 | 28 | 99 | Garrett Smithley | PCARx Chevrolet | 187 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 37 | 20 | 31 | Parker Retzlaff # | FUNKAWAY Chevrolet | 186 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 38 | 37 | 35 | Joey Gase | Nevada Donor Network Toyota | 156 | 0 | Toyota Supra |
# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver
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