Austin Hill isn’t afraid to jump outside of his comfort zone. He also believes in giving people fresh opportunities to shine.
Shortly after the conclusion of the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series season — when the No. 21 Chevrolet qualified for the Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway — Richard Childress Racing split its three-year pairing of Hill and crew chief Andy Street. Street shifted to crew chief the organization’s part-time third Cup Series entry and has additionally provided competition direction and assistance to RCR’s alliance partners.
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Hill won 10 races with Street as crew chief, but he wanted to weigh all his options after falling short of the Xfinity Series championship. RCR allowed him to help in the search for Street’s replacement.
“Andy and I had worked together for three years, and I was starting to not question his ability but question the 21 team in general as far as, ‘are we at the highest we can go with what we have going on right now, or is there still more to be gained?’ ” Hill told NASCAR.com. “I had more questions than anything of how it was going to go and if it was going to be good for the camaraderie within the team. Is the 21 team still going to stay together if the crew chief gets switched up? Or are the car chief and engineer going to get frustrated by it or be relieved to have a fresh face?”
Throughout the 2024 campaign, the No. 21 team had difficult conversations in the conference room in RCR’s headquarters. They called each other out, though never pointed a finger. Ultimately, Hill felt those discussions led to a championship run.
“We were brutally honest, which I thought was great and propelled us into having a shot at the championship and making it to the final four,” Hill said. “When we made it to the final four, that was a lot of relief off my shoulders.”
In early December, RCR tabbed industry veteran Chad Haney as the No. 21 team’s crew chief. Haney returned to RCR during the middle of the 2024 season as a liaison between RCR and its technical partners. He worked with Stewart-Haas Racing for the previous eight years, serving as car chief for Kurt Busch, Aric Almirola, Clint Bowyer and Chase Briscoe. Before his stint with SHR, Haney was a longtime car chief at RCR with a plethora of drivers.
Hill wanted someone who was hungry and out to prove themselves. Haney fit the bill as he felt the new pairing had known each other for 10 years after their first conversation in late November.
“I always wanted to be a crew chief, but I thought I was past that,” Haney said. “You don’t get opportunities to work with this type of team. It’s a very experienced team; Austin is a very experienced driver, and you just don’t get handed a top-three Xfinity team to go crew chief.
“Through my years, I’ve turned down several opportunities to go crew chief, but I was never offered something like this. It made me think about it, and after talking to Austin, Richard and basically Danny Lawrence (vice president, alliance operations, director, NASCAR Xfinity Series program) was the one making the offer, it was a no-brainer for me to go do it.”
When RCR turned its attention toward 2025, Hill realized the No. 21 team was in good hands. During that initial conversation, Haney asked Hill if he needed any changes from the past. Hill wanted to be more involved, knowing the setups underneath the car.
“That’s one thing that is a little different this year than years past, we don’t come with similar packages anymore,” Hill said. “We come to the race track with an open mind and we try all kinds of different stuff, for better or worse. We’re going to learn something.”
Haney thought the biggest obstacle would be calling races. As it turned out, that’s become one of the most enjoyable parts of the gig.
The duo is still learning from each other. The remainder of the No. 21 team from years past is still intact, making the change an easy transition.
Through 16 races, Hill has a trio of victories, with two coming on superspeedways (Atlanta, Talladega). He sits second in the regular-season championship battle, trailing defending series champion Justin Allgaier by 82 points. On a weekly basis, Allgaier is the only driver who Hill feels is ahead in speed.
“Overall assessment, I think we’re still one of the top teams,” Hill said, “but if we had to go strap in for Phoenix this weekend and go try to win a championship, I think we’re somewhere between second and fourth best.”
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Saturday’s Focused Health 250 at EchoPark Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway) presents a prime chance for the No. 21 team to collect additional playoff points (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Hill is tied with Allgaier for a series-high 21 markers, but two of his three victories in 2025 have come at superspeedways. In the series’ most recent drafting race at Talladega, he tied NASCAR Hall of Famers Dale Earnhardt and Tony Stewart as the winningest driver on superspeedways (nine).
The Georgia native has celebrated in Victory Lane in five of the last six trips to his home venue.
“I’m not afraid to take chances,” Hill noted of his Atlanta success. “As soon as that top gets ripping around and I’m not the leader, it’s a single file choo-choo train up top, I’m the first one to pull out of line and try something where you might have some guys in front of me that are scared to pull out of line because they don’t want to go to the back.
“My mindset is like, ‘screw it, if I go to the back, I go to the back, I’ve got to try something because I’m not going to sit here and run 10th all day.’ For whatever reason, it’s worked for me.”
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