Austin Hill has started off the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series season on a strong note, including a win at Atlanta and a fourth-place finish last weekend at Circuit of the Americas. The Richard Childress Racing driver headed into Saturday’s race at Phoenix with plenty of confidence based on his previous six trips to the mile-long track,

Austin Hill misread how close Sammy Smith was running the inside wall at Phoenix Raceway, as he tapped the inside wall and went spinning up the race track.

Hill was just a few feet short of hitting the precise spot he was hoping for and instead slammed the inside wall. That contact sent his car straight across the turn where Sheldon Creed was hopelessly racing along the outside lane. Both would slam into the outside wall with Dean Thompson, ending the three drivers’ days.

Stage 2 was slowed multiple times, notably for a multicar crash involving Richard Childress Racing's Austin Hill, Haas Factory ... in Xfinity Series history at Phoenix and the fourth time in ...