Austin Hill held off a charging Chandler Smith and Corey Heim to earn his ninth career victory as a NASCAR Xfinity Series driver. Seven of his nine victories have come at draft tracks, including four at Atlanta.

“We had to dig deep for that one,” said Hill, a Georgia native. “The No. 81 (Smith) came into (Turn) 3 and had me ripped off. He does what he has to do to try to win. Very surprised the No. 26 (Heim) pushed me out there and didn’t go with a Toyota.

“I thought I made a mistake in (Turns) 1 and 2, and I feel terrible that he hit the fence. I wasn’t trying to let him hit the fence. I was just trying to get him loose aerodynamically.”

Race winner Austin Hill, Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet Camaro

Photo by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images

Hill ended up having two Toyota drivers right behind him in the race to the finish. Smith got by, but fellow Toyota driver Corey Heim was no help. He opted instead to push Hill, moving up to second with a shot at his first-ever Xfinity win.

In Turn 1 on the final lap, Heim went to the outside of Hill but ended up hitting the outside wall, ending his chances of winning. Parker Kligerman and AJ Allmendinger then shot past but were unable to pass Hill before the checkered flag. Kligerman crossed the finish line in second and Allmendinger in third. Smith finished a disappointing fourth and Heim in fifth.

Smith wasn’t too happy with his teammate’s decision not to be a team player at all at the end. “Yeah (I’m surprised), we’re Toyota teammates,” he told NBC Sports. “I came out of the restart zone and I could have gone at the bottom and hung on top and been the leader. I didn’t. I stayed on top with my Toyota teammate. Ultimately, I gave up the lead by doing that.” Smith was referring to the restart with 14 to go when he had the race under control but stayed in line as Hill passed him on the inside. That turned out to be the winning move.

“I expected my Toyota teammate to go with me and that didn’t happen. It is what it is, but we had a very fast No. 81 Supra all day. I feel like I’ve unfortunately lost three wins in Atlanta in my career here. I’m a bit speechless to be honest. There are a lot of different things I could have done. I could have been more selfish and gone to the bottom when I was gone to cover that and just control the race, but I tried to be a good teammate and it didn’t work out for me today, as it usually does.”

Race winner Austin Hill, Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet Camaro

Photo by: Lesley Ann Miller / Motorsport Images

Of course, Heim saw things differently and questioned the timing of Smith’s move. “Ultimately, the move was going to be done on a straight, not in the middle of the corner. So if he wanted me to push him by, I think if he had just dropped back to my bumper out of (Turn) 4 on the straight and we both had a chance to win the race, I would have happily pushed him. He had no run or momentum, so why would he go all the way to the end of that point? I came here to win the race.

“For a team like Sam Hunt Racing to have a chance at their first win — I wanted to give them that chance. There’s no point in going down in the middle of the turn and trying to blow by the leader. The best car all day was the No. 21 (Hill). It just wasn’t in my best interest. It wasn’t in his best interest either. I’m not sure why he decided to go there.”

Heim added that the only thing that will be discussed at next week’s team meeting is when the move will take place. The incident is reminiscent of what happened late in the NASCAR Cup race at Daytona when Parker Retzlaff pushed Harrison Burton’s Ford around fellow Chevrolet driver Kyle Busch, costing his manufacturer the race win. Busch later said Retzlaff owed him nothing in the race to the checkered flag.