CHICAGO – Austin Hill hasn’t had frequent attempts at showing his potential in the NASCAR Cup Series. But on Sunday at the Chicago Street Course, he made the most of his limited opportunities.
Hill, who is signed up for a handful of races in Richard Childress Racing’s No. 33 entry in 2025, was frustrated with a fourth-place finish following Saturday’s Xfinity Series race. He was able to get over that quickly, setting his sights on Sunday’s Grant Park 165, his second Cup start of the campaign.
The No. 33 team fought an uphill battle early, as Hill qualified 30th for the 75-lap race. Veteran crew chief Andy Street, who worked with Hill for three full seasons at the Xfinity level, kept Hill out for the duration of the opening stage to finish ninth.
When Josh Berry brought out the caution on Lap 30, Hill made the trip to pit road for fresh tires and a full tank of fuel, along with race leader Michael McDowell and Denny Hamlin. As competitors visited pit road to flip the strategy ahead of the final stage, the No. 33 car moved up to 16th in the running order.
The final stage became physical with multiple restarts. Hill kept moving up the scoring pylon and took the checkered flag in ninth position, ranking as the second best RCR car, trailing Kyle Busch who earned his first top five in more than four months. It was Hill’s first top-10 finish in 12 Cup Series starts.
“It’s massive,” Hill told Jayski.com of his ninth-place finish, bettering his previous best finish by five spots. “To only come in here and run five races for the year – the Cup Series isn’t easy. To get out here on a street course like this, start 30th and drive up a little ways but also play some strategy, it’s massive. I feel like I won the race.
“I was really mad yesterday in the Xfinity Series finishing fourth. To finish ninth in a Cup race, I feel like I won the race. Hats off to everyone at RCR, ECR and everyone on the [No.] 33 car. We put our heads together and called a great race, took tires when we needed to, took tires when we needed to and it was good enough to get up there and battle with those guys and get a top 10.”
Hill has turned down multiple full-time Cup Series offers the last two years. He enjoys the competition that the Xfinity Series has to offer and remains loyal to RCR. But he still wants to show that he has what it takes to compete with the sport’s best when the opportunity presents itself, and if the perfect opportunity came along he would flee to it.
Chicago proved to be the next step in that direction. From the outside looking in, he thinks it should boost his stock should another competitive Cup team come calling.
“I would think so, but I would let the owners figure that one out and see what they think about me,” Hill added. “I’ve always had confidence in myself that I can do this and that I can run inside the top 10 and top 15 and we proved that today.”
Prior to Chicago, Hill had a best finish of 27th in two road course starts at the Cup level. The rest of his 2025 Cup schedule includes attempts at Daytona International Speedway (Aug. 23), Bristol Motor Speedway (Sept. 13) and Talladega Superspeedway (Oct. 19).