LONG POND, Pa.: Hattori Racing Enterprises’ solid season continued at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway on Sunday with Austin Hill earning a second-place finish in the postponed Pocono Organics 150.
Hill had one of the strongest trucks in the field, but in a race covered with cautions for accidents, Hill and crew chief Scott Zipadelli had to use the strategy game to propel themselves in contention for their first win of the season.
The Winston, Ga. native brought his truck to pit road as the field was restarting on Lap 27, just four laps from the competition of the Stage.
Electing to stay out at the end of Stage 2, Hill started ninth for the start of Stage 3 with just 27 laps to charge back to the front.
After getting shuffled back to 12th on the restart, Hill worked his way back to eighth when another caution waved. Utilizing the top lane to his advantage on the restart, Hill moved up four spots.
Inside the final 15 laps of the race, Hill had moved to third and was chasing down the Kyle Busch Motorsports duo of Christian Eckes and Brandon Jones. Eckes, however, wrecked a few laps later after cutting a tire – putting Hill second on the restart alongside Jones.
Restarting second with eight laps to go, Hill was able to overpower Jones for the race lead, but Jones passed him a lap later.
The final caution for a spin by Tim Viens stacked the field into a two-laps shootout for the checkered flag.
On the restart, Hill fought gallantly with Sheldon Creed who attacked from behind and nearly swiped the lead away from Jones and Hill, but the Hattori Racing Enterprises driver persevered passing Creed on the last lap but ran out of time to catch Jones for the win.
“Our Toyota Tsusho Tundra was really fast today,” said Hill. “We stayed up front all day. Clean air was really big. During that run that we finally had, we had so many caution laps that during that first pit stop I didn’t really know exactly what to tell the guys I needed. I knew I was on the tight side so I said hey if anything, let’s loosen it up some. We just didn’t free it up enough, we should have taken a big swing at it because once we had that little bit of a long run there when we were running third, it just got way too tight.
“Clicked off a few good laps there early in the race when I actually started catching the 51 (Brandon Jones) and the 18 (Christian Eckes) a little bit and then all of the sudden it was just like a light switch and it got really tight on us. That’s kind of what the difference was, that last restart, got a really good push and got through (turn) one good and was battling with the 51 and the 2 (Sheldon Creed) got to the middle of us.
“When I went through the tunnel turn, I was just way too tight. Just could not get it turning and I had to lift to stay off the 2 to keep from wrecking all of us. It’s frustrating finishing second, but I guess when you’re frustrated finishing second then the wins will come. It just shows that my guys are the best in the garage and they know what they’re doing and they’re really good at dialing these trucks in with no practice.”
The second-place finish was the team’s third top-five finish in the first six races of 2020 and HRE’s seventh straight top-10 dating back to Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway in November 2018, where the team won with Hill at the controls.
Hill said he feels like his Mooresville, N.C.-based team has been able to benefit a lot over their competitors by having no practice and jumping start into race mode.
“Just that everybody at HRE, they’re just really good ta making these trucks unload really good and really fast. Without practice and I’ve said it before, I wasn’t worried at all when everybody told me that we were going to this different format and we were just going straight to racing. I actually thought that we had a little bit of an edge on the rest of the field because every time we unloaded at certain race tracks, we’re just fast right off the bat.
“Our Toyota Tundra was really fast today,” added Hill. “We just fought tight really all day long. Early in that run, stage one and two, we didn’t have enough green flag laps to really feel out exactly what the truck was doing. I think if we could have had a little longer of a run, I could have maybe been a little more vocal to Scott (Zipadelli, crew chief) and everybody on how tight the truck actually was.
“We’re just showing consistency right now and these consistent runs will turn into wins here soon, I hope. It’s frustrating when you finish second and know that you should be in victory lane by now at this part of the season. We just have to keep digging and have to go back to the drawing board and be just a little better to go win these races.”
Seven straight top-10 efforts is also a new team record for HRE.
The NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series returns at Kentucky Speedway on Jul. 11, where Hills hopes to increase his 51-point advantage over Ben Rhodes.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
