NASCAR had a new busiest driver in 2020

Combined among the three NASCAR national series, Timmy Hill made 75 starts this year, most of any driver. As the busiest driver, he completed 13,602 laps.

Timmy Hill was the busiest driver in NASCAR this year, inheriting that title from Ross Chastain following his historic 2019 season. He made a combined 75 starts among the three national series.

Hill drove the full 36-race Cup Series schedule behind the wheel of the #66 MBM Motorsports car, and he competed in 29 of the 33 Xfinity Series for MBM Motorsports as well. In the Truck Series, where he was points eligible, he wheeled his own #56 Hill Motorsports Chevrolet in 10 races.

Hill became the fourth different driver in NASCAR over the last 15 years to make at least 75 starts across the three national series. Kyle Busch leads that category with 86 starts in 2006.

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Last year, Chastain made 77 starts among the three series en route to a runner-up finish in the Truck Series standings. In 2010, Brad Keselowski also competed in 75 races.

The 2020 season began quite well for Timmy Hill. MBM Motorsports announced that he would run full-time in the Cup Series, marking his first time running the full season in NASCAR’s premier series. During Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway, he piloted the #66 Ford to a 16th place finish in the second Bluegreen Vacations Duel. As a result, he successfully qualified for the Daytona 500, marking his first career start in the historic race.

Two days later in the Xfinity Series season opener, he navigated the #66 Toyota through seven cautions to a third place finish. It was the second career top five finish for Hill in his NASCAR career, and it was his career-best finish overall.

“To kick the season off with a third and making the Daytona 500, I’m on a career-high right now,” he told Frontstretch after that race. “I just want to keep riding this wave, and I can’t wait to continue on.”

Although Hill finished the Daytona 500 in 27th place with a DNF due to his involvement in a lap 194 caution flag incident, he undoubtedly began this year with much confidence.

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced NASCAR to take a hiatus, the sport turned to iRacing to entertain the fans. Hill mastered those races, finishing with six top 10 finishes in the seven races in that time span and became the unofficial champion of the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series.

Highlighting Hill’s performance in those iRacing events was his win at virtual Texas Motor Speedway. He took the lead with nine laps to go en route to the victory.

In his 75 real-life starts this year, Hill recorded four top 10 finishes. After finishing the grueling year, which saw races realigned, races rescheduled, a condensed schedule and a lack of practice and qualifying sessions once NASCAR returned from the 10-week hiatus, Hill summarized his year.

2020 NASCAR season is in the books! I competed in 75 races this season earning 1 top 5, 4 top 10’s, 9 top 15’s & 18 top…

Posted by Timmy Hill on Sunday, November 8, 2020

In addition to his season-opening third place results in the Xfinity Series, Hill notched an additional top 10 finish in the Xfinity Series and two top 10 finishes in the Truck Series.

His second top 10 finish in the Xfinity Series came at Pocono Raceway after he gained 26 positions from his starting position of 34th place to finish in eighth.

On the Truck Series side, he scored top 10 finishes in back-to-back races at Darlington Raceway and Richmond Raceway. In the first Truck Series race at Darlington Raceway since 2011, he drove with a special paint scheme on his #56 Chevrolet, honoring his father.

The race went into overtime, and Hill scored a ninth place finish, a cause for celebration.

The following race concluded the regular season. While Grant Enfinger led ThorSport Racing to a 1-2-3 finish, Hill finished the second stage in 10th place before gaining one more position to ultimately finish in ninth.

Timmy Hill co-owns Hill Motorsports with his brother Tyler. This year marked the first full-time effort for the team, and it was an impressive one to boot.

When the season finally ended, Hill finished in 26th place in the Truck Series championship standings after competing in less than half of the races on the schedule, and the #56 entry finished in 20th in the owner standings.

While he was ineligible to receive points in the Cup Series, the #66 MBM Motorsports entry finished the year 37th in the owners standings, which was unfortunately second lowest among all the full-time teams.

Hill has not officially announced his racing plans for next year. He has driven for MBM Motorsports over the past few years, and his tweets state that Hill Motorsports will be back next year in the Truck Series.

Meanwhile, Timmy and his wife Lucy are excited about 2021 for another joyous reason outside of NASCAR.

https://twitter.com/TimmyHillRacer/status/1319730281461534720

Congratulations to the parents-to-be.

All in all, Hill achieved a great deal this year in spite of a global pandemic. In his NASCAR career overall, he has now earned two top five finishes and 10 top 10 finishes, and the 2020 season played a big role in adding to that total.