It was the second career NXS win for Hill, having also won earlier this season at Daytona.
“What a car,” Hill said post-race. “RCR has been working their ever-loving tails off to bring some really fast Chevrolet Camaros. We were a rocket ship all day.
“We had an issue right when we pulled off of pit road. The team couldn’t hear me. We changed helmets thinking that was the case, but they still couldn’t hear me. We had to do hand gestures.”
The Georgia native was elated to capture the checkered flag at his home track. “We just won at Atlanta, that’s really special. I’ve been trying to win here for a long time. I’ve finished second here three times in a row, twice in a truck, and then earlier in the spring (NXS race). It’s been owing me one. Finally, we got one in Georgia where I grew up and was raised, about an hour down the road. This is going to be so special, I can’t wait to party.”
Josh Berry finished just 0.111s behind in second, while Ryan Truex, Tyler Reddick, and Daniel Hemric rounded out the top-five.
Noah Gragson, Justin Allgaier, Landon Cassill, Riley Herbst, and AJ Allmendinger filled out the rest of the top-ten.
The race was slowed by six cautions.
Stage 1
Berry held the early lead from Gibbs, and it didn’t take long for the yellow flag to fly.
Jesse Iwuji spun, forcing the first caution of the race.
On the restart, Allmendinger took the lead. He, Berry, and Gibbs were then able to break away from the rest of the field. They enjoyed the advantage for some time until a spin by Creed brought out the second caution of the race.
In the run that followed, about seven cars were able to break away at the front with Hill and Allmendinger battling back-and-forth for the lead.
A group of slower lapped cars created a few tense moments for the race leaders as they cut their way through.
With help from Gibbs, Berry was able to take the lead from Allmendinger and capture the stage victory.
He was followed across the line by Gibbs, Allmendinger, Brown, Gragson, Hemric, Hill, Allgaier, Jones, and Snider.
Stage 2
Several drivers opted to take just two fresh tires, and Jones led the way off pit road. Multiple frontrunners found trouble during the pit cycle including Berry, who had an extended stop for a loose wheel. Allmendinger needed to back up to get out of his box while Gibbs’ crew was slow on the LR tire change.
Additionally, Hemric and Sieg were caught speeding.
Reddick led Creed and Hill after the restart, all having stayed out at the end of Stage 1. More trouble found Allmendinger as he slowed and even hit the outside wall with a loose wheel.
There was a five-car breakaway at the front of the field with Creed getting around Reddick as they dealt with lapped traffic.
As the stage came to a close, Allmendinger was fighting hard with the leaders as he tried to get a lap back after his unscheduled pit stop. He was not successful.
Hill claimed the stage win with a final lap pass, beating Creed, Brown, Reddick, Allgaier, Jones, Gibbs, Truex, Cassill, and Earnhardt.
Stage 3
Reddick won the race off pit road, but was sent to the rear due to a speeding penalty.
It was Gibbs in control for the restart, which was rather brief as Brandon Jones half-spun back in the field. Surprisingly, no one hit Jones as he spun across the track.
It all went wrong on the following restart for the Monster Energy cars as Herbst got up into Gibbs, putting the race leader in the wall.
The sixth and final caution of the race flew when Sam Mayer got turned into the outside wall on the backstretch.
The remainder of the race went caution-free, but not entirely incident-free. Brandon Brown found the outside wall and was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop.
As the laps ticked away, everyone waited for someone to make a move as the field was lined up single-file against the outside wall. Hill was in control.
Finally, it was Hemric who pulled to the inside and charged up into the runner-up spot. Hill blocked the run and no one was able to get back to him before the checkered flag.
Hill led a race-high 73 of 163 laps.