Austin Hill survives wild restart to win Xfinity Series race at Pocono #Austin #Hill #survives #wild #restart #win #Xfinity #Series #race #Pocono

LONG POND, Pa. (AP) — Austin Hill survived a wild restart in the final overtime laps at Pocono Raceway and earned his fourth Xfinity Series victory of the season on Saturday.

Hill won the season opener at Daytona and added two more early season wins at Las Vegas and Phoenix, but hadn’t won over his last 13 races. He seemed like he might have to settle for another solid finish until he caught a break on the final extra two laps.

Josh Berry, needing a win to qualify for the Xfinity playoffs, held the lead until a late wreck brought out the caution. Berry, who won the first two stages went high, slammed into the wall off the restart and wrecked. Hill had enough fuel in the No. 21 Chevrolet to speed away and get the win.

Race team members push the No. 19 car of Martin Truex Jr. onto the pit road before the Crayon 301 NASCAR Cup Series race Monday, July 17, 2023, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, in Loudon, N.H. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Martin Truex Jr. is back on top of NASCAR’s top series. Truex got his first victory in 30 tries in New Hampshire and passed William Byron for the points lead.

Sam Mayer was second and Chase Elliott, winless in the Cup Series this year, finished third. Riley Herbst and Daniel Hemric rounded out the top five.

“We didn’t get the caution we were looking for,” Elliott said.

Berry faded to 24th.

“I just got loose and got up the track,” Berry said. “It’s just hard racing there on the restart. We just weren’t able to close it out.”

The 29-year-old Hill said he knew he just had to hit his marks on the last two laps to take the checkered flag for Richard Childress Racing. The last two laps were the only ones he led in the race.

“We didn’t have the best car all day,” Hill said. “We got the car better. I thought we were maybe a top-five, top-seven car but I didn’t think we had anything for the leader. (Berry) was so fast today.”

Hill, who rebounded from an early speeding penalty, said he was concerned a Chevy already riding on older tires was about out of fuel, but eventually had just enough to perform a victory burnout.

Hill’s win means five spots are still open with six race left before the 12-car Xfinity playoff field is set.

Hill matched series points leader John Hunter Nemechek for most wins this season. Nemechek, who won the last two Xfinity races, finished only 89 laps and was 32nd.