Austin Hill was content staying in NASCAR O'Reilly but embraces Cup role

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Austin Hill would have been content to remain in the NASCAR O’Reilly Series under a different set of circumstances.

Richard Childress Racing named Hill as the full-time driver of the Cup Series No. 33 next season -- a role has already been fulfilling this season ever since the tragic death of Kyle Busch.

Hill has been with the company since the 2022 season, having won in his organizational debut at Daytona and adding 15 more wins along the way over the ensuing five years. He’s now 32-years-old and it didn’t entirely look like he would become a Cup Series regular.

He’s also conceded trepidation about taking this role in the aftermath of the company and sport losing Busch. There has just been a lot for him to contemplate.

“I would say I had been wanting to go to Cup for a little while now, but I wanted to make sure it was the right opportunity for me and not just jumping (in) any Cup car, and just to say I’m a cup driver, right,” said Hill during a press conference on Friday at Daytona. “And that was something that I have always thought of for a very long time. I didn’t just want to jump in any type of Cup car just to say I’m racing in Cup now.

“I wanted to do it for the right organization, for the people that I wanted to be surrounded by. And I’ve always thought that since being at RCR for the last five years now, that that was the organization I wanted to be at.”

In other words, if Busch had been able to stay in his No. 8 car, the company was set with Austin Dillon and the two-time Cup Series champion for the foreseeable future. Team owner Richard Childress revealed at Michigan International Speedway that he intended to announce an extension with Busch that weekend, a month after his passing.

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That would have meant Hil staying in the Richard Childress Racing NOAPS program, likely alongside Carson Brown.

“You know, I was kind of just biding my time,” Hill said. “At the time, I didn’t know for sure what Kyle was going to be doing going into ’27. Obviously, there was a lot of speculation, rumors, all those things, and so I didn’t know what he was doing.

“Then with everything that’s transpired over the last several months, things quickly changed, and I had to kind of question myself on like, did I still want to do this? Do I still want to be in the Cup car, did I want to be taking the place of Kyle Busch? A lot of things were going through my head, and then I just kind of kept reminding myself that someone was going to be in the car. You know, they weren’t going to just retire that team. Someone was still going to run in that car, and so I just was like, ‘Well, I’ve been here for five years.’ You know, I feel like I’ve been extremely loyal to RCR. And roles reversed, kind of the same way.

“So I thought this was a great opportunity for me. If it wouldn’t have happened and they would have gone a different route, that would have been totally fine, too. I would have stayed in the O’Reilly Series and stayed in the 21 car for another year or two and just seen where that progressed and where that went. I haven’t been rushing it by any means on trying to get to the Cup level, but yeah here we are now. We’re going into the rest of the season trying to learn as much as I can, trying to balance both series and be ready and prepared as I can going into 2027.”

Upon making that decision, that he was effectively going to replace Busch, Hill sought out Kevin Harvick who dealt with a similar situation with RCR in 2001 after the death of Dale Earnhardt in the Daytona 500 that year.

“The biggest takeaway that I got from Kevin was just to be mentally tough and not to show your emotion in front of everyone,” Hill said. “If you’re going to have a breakdown moment or anything like that happen, do that behind closed doors. You need to be the tough guy when it comes to driving the race car and being in the shop and being prepared and showing those guys that you mean business… that you’re here for them and you’re here to be that shoulder to lean on.

“That’s kind of one of the biggest takeaways for me. I’ve had to get a lot more mentally sharp than what I feel like I was, and I think that’s helped me as a person as a character.”

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Hill said he appreciated Harvick taking the time and he could have spent all day on Friday talking about what he took away from the conversation, but ultimately, he learned leadership skills.

Immediately, Hill views this weekend in both series as opportunities to win, as RCR’s superspeedway program performance is well known.

“Daytona’s been good to us, right,” Hill said. “There’s been situations where we’ve won a race here and we didn’t think it was going to happen. The next thing you know, we just kind of find ourselves in the front at the very end, and the right runs happen or the right things happen. So yeah, I have a lot of confidence going into this weekend. I would love to check that box of getting a summer Daytona win. That’s something that’s kind of eluded me for a little while now. I can’t tell you the rhyme or reason why because it’s still Daytona. The only thing that I’ll say is, I think when you start out in February, people might be a little more reserved. I don’t know the exact answer to that, but when it comes down to the last race before the Chase… They want to get that last win and get all the points they can, and the intensity level picks up.

“On the Saturday night Cup deal, I think we have as good a chance as anyone. RCR has been very well-known for being fast on these super speedways, whether it’s the O’Reilly Series or the Cup Series. And it’s hard to win in Cup. You see it time and time again. Guys going o...

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