Austin Hill Wins Weather-Shortened Camping World Truck Race at WGI

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

WAKTINS GLEN, NY – RIS – Austin Hills won the lightning shortened NASCAR truck series race at Watkins Glen International for his second win of the season.  Hill made it two wins at WGI.  He had yesterday won the ARCA series race at the Glen. The United Rentals 176 became the United Rentals 150, as multiple lightning strikes within an eight-mile radius of the track along with the scheduling of the NASCAR Xfinity Series event, forced the sanctioning body to shorten the series’ regular season finale, 11 laps short of the finish.

Hill led a race-high 36 of 61 laps. There were seven lead changes among six drivers.

John Hunter Nemechek – the regular season champion — finished in the runner-up position, with Sheldon Creed, Todd Gilliland and Parker Kligerman rounding out the top-five. Zane Smith, Tyler Ankrum, Paul Menard, Sam Mayer and Carson Hocevar rounded out the top-10.

Sheldon Creed (No. 2), John Hunter Nemechek (No. 4), Austin Hill (No. 16), Chandler Smith (No. 19), Zane Smith (No. 21), Todd Gilliland (No. 38), Carson Hocevar (No. 42), Stewart Friesen (No. 52), Matt Crafton (No. 88) and Ben Rhodes (No. 99) will make up the 10-driver field for the 2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs.

Gilliland dominated the first stage by a large margin because he did not pit while many did.  That put the drive of the No.38 F150 in about 11th place where he stayed much of the stage.  Hill won the second stage and was officially credited with the win after various sources showed radar and lightening strikes were very likely to be on the way.  Radar images did not look good to continue, s the race was called.

There were five cautions, including the lightning delay and stage conclusions. The two on-track flags came from a Chad Chastain incident in Turn 1 on Lap 7 and then a Derek Kraus-AJ Allmendinger incident in the inner loop on Lap 53. There were many spins including on the first lap that did not result in a caution.

Up next, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series heads to the World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway on Aug. 20th.  The ten-race champion ship run will end at Phoenix in November.

Unofficial Results: United Rentals 176 at The Glen, August 7, 2021, Watkins Glen International - 2.45 Mile Road

Fin, Str, Driver, Trk, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 1, Austin Hill, No. 16 United Rentals Toyota, 61, , 1, 3, 35, 6, 50, Running
2) 6, John Hunter Nemechek, No. 4 Mobil 1 Toyota, 61, , 2, 1, 2, , 44, Running
3) 19, Sheldon Creed, No. 2 Liftkits4less.com Chevrolet, 61, 2, 5, , , , 49, Running
4) 2, Todd Gilliland, No. 38 Crosley Brands Ford, 61, 1, 8, 1, 18, 1, 46, Running
5) 38, Parker Kligerman, No. 75 Fast.co Chevrolet, 61, , , , , , 32, Running
6) 8, Zane Smith, No. 21 Bay Mountain Air Chevrolet, 61, , 4, 1, 4, , 38, Running
7) 10, Tyler Ankrum, No. 26 LiUNA! Chevrolet, 61, , 6, , , , 35, Running
8) 39, Paul Menard, No. 66 SunTree Snack Foods Toyota, 61, 7, , , , , 33, Running
9) 40, Sam Mayer(i), No. 32 Camping World Chevrolet, 61, , 10, , , , 0, Running
10) 9, Carson Hocevar #, No. 42 Premier Security Chevrolet, 61, , 7, 1, 1, , 31, Running
11) 21, Josh Berry(i), No. 25 Rackley Roofing/WAR Shocks Chevrolet, 61, 4, , , , , 0, Running
12) 23, Kaz Grala, No. 02 RANDCO/Sim Seats Chevrolet, 61, , , , , , 25, Running
13) 15, Christian Eckes, No. 98 TSPORT/Curb Records Toyota, 61, , , , , , 24, Running
14) 22, Tanner Gray, No. 15 Ford Performance Ford, 61, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 5, Ben Rhodes, No. 99 Bombardier LearJet 75 Toyota, 61, 9, 9, , , , 26, Running
16) 20, Austin Wayne Self, No. 22 AIRBOX/TheSafeZone Chevrolet, 61, 5, , , , , 27, Running
17) 12, Ryan Truex, No. 40 Niece/Marquis Chevrolet, 61, 10, , , , , 21, Running
18) 3, Chandler Smith #, No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass Toyota, 61, , , , , , 19, Running
19) 16, Corey Heim, No. 51 JBL Toyota, 61, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 18, Hailie Deegan #, No. 1 Toter Ford, 61, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 17, Stewart Friesen, No. 52 Halmar International Toyota, 61, 8, , , , , 19, Running
22) 7, Derek Kraus, No. 19 Hunter Nation Toyota, 61, 3, , , , , 23, Running
23) 4, Matt Crafton, No. 88 Ideal Door/Menards Toyota, 61, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 14, Johnny Sauter, No. 13 FarmPaint.com Toyota, 61, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 36, Timmy Hill, No. 56 Hill Motorsports Chevrolet, 61, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 27, Jack Wood, No. 24 Chevy Accessories Chevrolet, 61, , , 1, 1, , 11, Running
27) 13, Tate Fogleman, No. 12 Banana Pepper Sauce Chevrolet, 61, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 25, AJ Allmendinger(i), No. 23 Bama Buggies Chevrolet, 61, 6, 3, , , , 0, Running
29) 11, Danny Bohn, No. 30 North American Motor Car Toyota, 61, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 35, Bobby Reuse, No. 3 I Heart Mac & Cheese Chevrolet, 61, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 37, Roger Reuse, No. 49 WCIParts.com Ford, 60, , , , , , 6, Running
32) 33, Josh Reaume, No. 33 Levrack Toyota, 60, , , , , , 5, Running
33) 24, Lawless Alan, No. 34 AUTOParkIt.com Toyota, 60, , , , , , 4, Running
34) 34, Spencer Boyd, No. 20 E1 Motorsports Chevrolet, 59, , , , , , 3, Running
35) 31, Chad Chastain, No. 45 Protect Your Melon Buckle Up Chevrolet, 58, , , , , , 2, Running
36) 32, Taylor Gray, No. 17 FORD Ford, 53, , , , , , 1, Running
37) 28, Jennifer Jo Cobb, No. 10 Fastener Supply Company Ford, 45, , , , , , 1, Running
38) 26, Norm Benning, No. 6 MDF A Sign Co Chevrolet, 40, , , , , , 1, Too Slow
39) 30, Grant Enfinger, No. 9 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet, 8, , , , , , 1, Transmission
40) 29, Will Rodgers(i), No. 41 Elevated Performance Chevrolet, 6, , , , , , 0, Transmission
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Time: 1 Hrs, 42 Mins, 43 Secs.
Length: 61 Laps, 149.45 Miles
Speed: 87.298 MPH
Margin of Victory: Under Caution

Stage 1 Top 10: 38, 2, 19, 25, 22, 23, 66, 52, 99, 40
Stage 2 Top 10: 16, 4, 23, 21, 2, 26, 42, 38, 99, 32

Comments: Austin Hill won the United Rentals 176 at Watkins Glen International, his eighth NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory.

Prior to the start the following truck dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reason indicated: No. 23 (driver change).

Caution Flags: 5 for 10 laps;
Laps: 9-10 (No. 45 Incident Turn 1 [99]);
22-23 (Stage 1 Conclusion [02]);
47-49 (Stage 2 Conclusion [24]);
55-56 (No. 19, No. 23 Incident Inner Loop [88]);
61-61 (Lightning [3]).

Lead Changes: 7 among 6 drivers;
A. Hill 1-4;
T. Gilliland 5-22;
J. Wood 23;
C. Hocevar No. 24;
Z. Smith 25-28;
A. Hill 29-41;
J. Nemechek 42-43;
A. Hill 44-61.

Ron Fleshman with John Davison

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

Read More on Cup / XFINITY / Truck news
Volume 2021, Issue 8, Posted 4:22 PM, 08.07.2021