NASCAR Truck Series: Austin Hill the big winner during Kyle Busch’s win streak

Perhaps no NASCAR Truck Series driver was a bigger winner during Kyle Busch’s lengthy and dominant winning streak than Austin Hill.

After Hattori Racing Enterprises won the 2018 NASCAR Truck Series championship with Brett Moffitt as the driver of the #16 Toyota, they were forced to cut ties with the 26-year-old Grimes, Iowa native for financial purposes.

As a result, the team hired Austin Hill as the driver of the #16 Toyota for the 2019 season, and the 24-year-old Winston, Georgia native picked up where Moffitt left off by earning his first career Truck Series victory in the season opener, the NextEra Energy 250, at Daytona International Speedway.

But since this 111-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked oval in Daytona Beach, Florida took place, four Truck Series races have been contested. All four of them have been won by Kyle Busch Motorsports’ Kyle Busch.

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However, the biggest winner during Busch’s four-race winning streak, which is actually a five-race winning streak since he entered the season’s second race at Atlanta Motor Speedway having not competed in a Truck Series race since he won the July race at Pocono Raceway last season, has undoubtedly been Hill.

By winning the season opener, Hill put himself in a great position to secure one of the eight Truck Series playoff berths, as drivers who win races throughout the 16-race regular season fill those eight playoff positions first.

But with 15 races remaining on the regular season schedule at that point in time, there was still the potential that at least seven more full-time Truck Series drivers could win at least one race and thus potentially bump Hill out of the playoffs despite the fact that he won the season opener.

While Hill has not added to his win total (or even his top six finish total) since winning the season opener, his chances of making the playoffs have skyrocketed due to Busch, who is ineligible to earn Truck Series points, much less to qualify for the Truck Series playoffs, as a full-time Cup Series driver, going on his four-race winning streak.

Now just 11 races remain on the 2019 Truck Series regular season schedule, and at least seven more drivers still need to win at least one of these races and do enough as far as points are concerned to bump Hill out of the top eight in the playoff picture.

After winning the season opener, Hill has finished in seventh, 30th, 16th and 27th place in the four races that have taken place, and he sits in seventh in the championship standings as a result of his recent struggles.

Had it not been for Hill’s victory to open up the season, he would be just three points ahead of the playoff cut line, but he appears to be all but locked into this year’s playoffs at this point, in large part thanks to Busch’s four-race winning streak.

Will Austin Hill end up qualifying for the 2019 NASCAR Truck Series playoffs like he is expected to? If so, which seven drivers will join him in the playoffs, and if not, which eight or more drivers will win at least one of the remaining 11 regular season races to lock themselves into the playoffs?