Hill Back In The Cup Saddle For Bristol Double Duty

Austin Hill (Nigel Kinrade/NKP photo)

BRISTOL, Tenn. – He might be starting the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs in a points deficit, but at least for the upcoming weekend, Austin Hill will have an extra shot to claw back from that challenge and showcase his talents.

Hill will climb aboard Richard Childress Racing’s No. 33 Chevrolet in the NASCAR Cup Series for the fourth time this season during Saturday night’s iconic Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

It will be his first start at the .533-mile, high-banked concrete oval at stock car racing’s top level, and his fourth time doing double duty this year by racing in both the Cup Series and the Xfinity Series.

Hill, who surprised the Cup Series field with an impressive ninth-place finish at the Chicago (Ill.) Street Course in July, is a native of Winston, Ga. He enters The Last Great Colosseum with an opportunity to log laps and gain more experience in his 14th career premier series race.

Jesse Love, Hill’s Xfinity Series teammate at RCR, drove the No. 33 during the Cup Series’ spring visit to Bristol in his debut at the top level. Love finished 31st but qualified 19th that weekend.

Now, Hill gets his shot at Bristol in Cup Series competition in RCR’s part-time third entry. He’ll work alongside two veterans in playoff driver Austin Dillon and eight-time Bristol winner Kyle Busch, both of whom can help provide insights to support Hill’s efforts.

Hill will experience a new tire compound that Goodyear has introduced for the weekend. It’s a softer right-side tire, marking the first change after four consecutive Bristol events using the same tire setup.

Goodyear hopes to enhance both the racing action and tire conservation under the lights on Saturday, and Hill is eager to see how both factors play out with the Next-Gen race car.

“I hope that the tire has a lot of fall off,” Hill said during Xfinity Series Playoff Media Day on Tuesday. “I hope that we’re slipping and sliding around the racetrack. I also hope you're having to manage your tires.

“I could see us being able to start moving around the racetrack a lot, [where we’ll] be able to run the bottom or the top,” Hill continued. “So, I think the racing could be good. But until we get there and get racing, [only] time will tell.”

The 31-year-old, perhaps most known as a drafting-track expert, is excited to run one of the more iconic races on the Cup Series calendar for the first time during the same weekend he ignites his pursuit of a first Xfinity Series championship.

“I'm looking forward to running the Cup Series race,” Hill said. “I have never driven the Cup car at Bristol. So it’s going to be a long, busy, but really fun weekend. Hopefully, I can make all 500 laps. It being at night, it’s going to be so cool to race under the lights at Bristol in a Cup Series car.”

While the vehicles might not compare, track experience does help, and Hill has 10 prior Bristol starts between the Truck Series and Xfinity Series entering the weekend.

His track-best mark of third came during the 2022 Xfinity Series playoff race there, during his rookie campaign with RCR.

Broadcast coverage of the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol is slated for Saturday night, Sept. 13 at 7:30 p.m. ET, live on USA, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.