Key to Austin Hill's superspeedway dominance is a flaw of his competitors

There will be a day where someone beats Austin Hill heads-up in a NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series superspeedway race. 

It is likely to happen someday. After all, the 31-year-old driver from Winston, Georgia, can't continue to dominate like he did Saturday at Daytona International Speedway, forever, right?

Time will tell, but as a new season of O'Reilly Series racing dawned, Hill's drafting dominance remained the same. He won the pole, swept the stages and led 78 of 120 laps en route to his fourth win at Daytona in five years and his 11th win in the draft in the last five seasons. 

There simply is no better superspeedway racer in NASCAR's second-highest division than Hill. 

Of course, the Richard Childress Racing driver won't divulge any secrets. But most of his keys to victory are already in the public view: a fast RCR Chevrolet and a talented driver behind the wheel. 

But Hill's most important trait at superspeedways might just be that he's up front so often and in Victory Lane so much that mentally, it seems darn near impossible to beat him. Time and time again on Saturday evening, neither lane was able to mount a serious charge on Hill. Two last-lap efforts to get around him failed. 

Hill isn't literally impossible to beat at Daytona, Atlanta and Talladega, but it sure seems that way.

Austin Hill offers his thoughts

"I definitely think that a lot of people work against each other, and then they end up helping me, even though they’re trying not to," Hill said post-race. "I don’t know if that makes sense. But they screw each other over and end up helping me in the process, I’m like, 'That’s fine with me.'"

On the final lap, Brennan Poole got a push down the backstretch before being shot up the track and losing any shot at catching Hill. But 2024 series champion Justin Allgaier had a shove from Jordan Anderson, and he was the only chance the field had at beating Hill. 

True to Hill's point, Anderson, a part-time NOAPS driver, dove to the inside of Allgaier entering turn 3. Neither Allgaier or Anderson had enough help on the exit of turn 4 to catch Hill, who drove off into the Florida night and snagged another checkered flag.