Austin Hill Rallies to Finish 17th at Dover International Speedway

Austin Hill, driver of the No. 1 A&D Welding Ford F-150, battled adversary all weekend long to bring home a 17th place finish in Friday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race at Dover International Speedway.

With unrelenting weather forecasted for the week, Hill aligned his own team, Austin Hill Racing, with Make Motorsports in an effort to be guaranteed a spot in the race in the event Friday’s qualifying session was rained out. The quick thinking prevailed as the grid was set on first practice times with Hill starting in the 26th position.

During Thursday’s practice sessions, the No. 1 truck was unbearably tight for Hill driving through the corners. The team made major adjustments to the truck before Friday’s race and Hill battled an extremely loose handling truck for the majority of the 200-lap race.

“On long runs we’re as good as the 5th and 6th place drivers,” Hill said. “On the short runs in traffic is where we need help; we’re wicked loose, especially on new tires.”

Hill climbed his way through the field, fighting for position to earn the lucky dog spot twice during the course of the race.

Hill rallied in the waning laps of the race after being the lucky dog beneficiary for the second time, ultimately finishing in the 17th position, two laps down. The No.1 was the highest finishing team not on the lead lap.

“Thank you guys for fighting all day long,” Hill said to his team at the conclusion of the race. “Not really what we were looking for coming into this race but we will take it, learn from it and move on to Charlotte.”

Hill’s next NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race will be the NC Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday, May 20 at 8:30pm ET.(Austin Hill Racing)