NASCAR championship contender signs contract extension

Austin Hill is set to remain with the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Xfinity Series team for the long haul after signing a multi-year contract extension.

Richard Childress Racing announced on Thursday that they have signed NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Austin Hill to a multi-year contract extension to keep him behind the wheel of the No. 21 Chevrolet for the 2024 season and beyond.

The 29-year-old Winston, Georgia native joined the team last year after spending four years competing full-time in the Truck Series. During his three seasons with Hattori Racing Enterprises from 2019 to 2021, he also ran part-time in the Xfinity Series.

In his first season as a full-time Xfinity Series driver with Richard Childress’ team a year ago, the eight-time Truck Series race winner won twice and added nine other top five finishes en route to a sixth place finish in the championship standings. This season, he has taken a major step forward.

Through 22 of the 26 races on the NASCAR Xfinity Series regular season schedule, Austin Hill has won four races and sits atop the point standings with an additional nine top five finishes.

Hill has won at both tracks where he won last year, Daytona International Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway, and added victories at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Pocono Raceway.

While the multi-year extension he signed with Richard Childress Racing is said to tie him to the Xfinity Series program, there is little doubt that he will be looking to make the move to the Cup Series at some point. After all, he did make his Cup Series debut with the team last August at Michigan International Speedway.

Richard Childress Racing currently run two cars in the Cup Series, but running three isn’t out of the question. They have only run three cars once since adding a car for Hill for one race last summer, but they signed Kyle Busch for 2023 while they still had Tyler Reddick under contract. They likely would have run three cars had 23XI Racing not been willing to bring Reddick in year early, in light of Kurt Busch’s injury.

Should they expand to three cars, Hill certainly appears to be the odds-on favorite for the seat. Even if not, he could potentially position himself to replace Kyle Busch behind the wheel of the No. 8 Chevrolet when Busch retires.