With Austin Hill having locked up NASCAR Xfinity Series Rookie of the Year honours as the only driver in his class to make the playoffs, it was only a matter of time before he begins dabbling in the Cup Series. On Friday, Beard Motorsports announced he will drive the #62 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in six Cup races in 2023.
His schedule begins with the season-opening Daytona 500 on 19 February. He will continue Beard’s slate of running the superspeedways as he enters the two Talladega Superspeedway events on 23 April and 1 October, along with the other Daytona International Speedway race on 26 August. However, the team will also enter the inaugural Chicago Street Race on 2 July and Michigan International Speedway on 6 August.
Hill made his Cup début at Michigan in August in a new #33 car for Richard Childress Racing, where he finished eighteenth. The entry came on the heels of what has been a strong rookie season in the Xfinity Series with RCR as he won at Daytona and Atlanta. Entering the penultimate race, he is sixth in points and fighting to make the Championship Round.
Prior to entering the Xfinity Series full-time, he was an eight-time race winner in the Camping World Truck Series. He won the regular season championship in 2020.
“Austin has really seized the opportunities that he’s had in his young career,” said Beard executive vice president Mark Beard Jr. “He’s won in Trucks and here he is winning in his first year in the Xfinity Series. It’s all very impressive. He brings a lot of talent and just a really strong desire to compete, and that’s a great combination for us to have at Beard Motorsports.”
Beard has almost exclusively run the superspeedways since 2017, first with Brendan Gaughan followed by Noah Gragson; the lone start outside of Daytona and Talladega was at the former’s infield road course in 2020 with Gaughan. As Gragson graduates to the Cup Series in 2023 with Petty GMS Motorsports, an opening is left that Hill will fill. Justin Allgaier also drove the car at the second Talladega race while Gragson was substituting for Alex Bowman at Hendrick Motorsports.
Gragson scored the car’s first top five when he finished fifth at Daytona in August.
“From the moment I started in quarter midgets back home in Georgia, racing in the NASCAR Cup Series has always been my goal,” commented Hill. “I’m incredibly grateful to Richard Childress for giving me the platform to race and win in my first season in the Xfinity Series, and for the opportunity the Beard family has provided me to run more races in Cup.”
