Denny Hamlin doesn't think Austin Hill's superspeedway success translates to Cup Series

Austin Hill did it again.

For the third consecutive Xfinity Series season, he picked up a victory in the opening race at Daytona International Speedway. This time, Hill raced his No. 21 Chevrolet to victory lane in the United Rentals 300 on Monday, leading nine-of-120 laps, including the most important one of them all. He is the fourth driver in NASCAR history to win the Xfinity Series opener at Daytona at least three times, joining Dale Earnhardt (1990-93), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2002-04) and Tony Stewart (2008-11).

“Three-peat? You know how hard it is to win at Daytona?” Hill said during his post-race interview with FOX Sports.

Hill is undoubtedly the Xfinity Series’ best at superspeedway racing, though Denny Hamlin isn’t convinced his success will translate to the Cup Series if/when he makes the jump. Speaking on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast this week, Hamlin said that Hill’s dominance at Daytona has more to do with the inexperience of the field around him.

Denny Hamlin speaks out on Austin Hill’s success at Daytona

“You can’t take away anything from his ability to get the most out of everything and certainly on superspeedways, he’s got a way of keeping his car up front,” Hamlin said. “Even when it’s damaged, he knows a way. … I don’t think it translates into any kind of Cup success by any means because everyone is good in Cup on superspeedways now. Everyone’s good and there’s just more data out there for drivers to look at and study, so I feel like the bulk of the Cup field is really, really good.

“You look at the Xfinity field, there’s like three or four who really know how to work the draft well. You can just see it by how spread out they are, and who can manufacture runs and what not. Austin Hill’s experience just allows him to just kind of really abuse the Xfinity field because they’re just not as experienced as he is or of that capability on superspeedways.”

Perhaps Hill will have a chance at proving Hamlin wrong one day. But for now, his priority is winning an Xfinity Series championship, something he came close to doing last season. Hill won a career-high four races in 2023, finishing fifth in the points standings. With the win at Daytona, he’s the first driver to qualify for the playoffs this season.