DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — On a night that belonged to the underdogs, Timmy Hill put a lucky No. 13 to the top reaches of the Daytona International Speedway scoring pylon Saturday morning. Even in such a narrow defeat, there was joy — both for the small MBM Motorsports team he drove for, and for the like-minded driver who beat him to the finish line.
Hill powered to a runner-up finish behind winner Jeremy Clements in the crash-filled Wawa 250, a race that started Friday and ran into the wee hours of Saturday because of rain. The result was the 29-year-old driver’s best in 235 career starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and in 446 starts across all three NASCAR national circuits, touching off a celebration for the Carl Long-led bunch, which also collected another top-10 finish with JJ Yeley placing ninth in the MBM No. 66 entry.
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“It’s a high. It’s a high, for sure,” Hill said. “Yeah, these guys … there’s high-fives all around. It’s just really thrilling for us.”
Hill competes full-time in the Camping World Truck Series, driving for his own family-owned team. Friday marked just his sixth Xfinity start of the year, and all have come in Long’s cars.
Friday’s go spiraled into late-race chaos and a triple-overtime finish, and Hill lined up third behind Clements and Austin Hill (no relation) on the front row for the final green flag. When Austin Hill ran low on fuel, Timmy Hill scooted clear, but it took him nearly half a lap to regain his momentum.
Hill nearly followed AJ Allmendinger to the front as the white flag flew, but he opted to offer drafting help to Clements as he filed in behind the No. 51. When the caution flag flew for Riley Herbst’s spin, Hill was scored just ahead of points leader Allmendinger when the running order was frozen the final time.
“This is like a bittersweet moment for a team like us because it’s great to finish second,” said No. 13 crew chief Jason Houghtaling after soaking in the post-race festivities. “You want to win but second is totally amazing for a team like us. So we’re going to be satisfied tonight, we’re gonna go home and we’re going to enjoy the moment.”
As much as Hill & Co. savored their own banner night, the group was elated for Clements. Hill greeted the winner in Victory Lane with a hug and an emphatic, “How ’bout that?!” and drew parallels between Clements’ tight-knit team and his own.
“Yeah, it’s really cool to see Jeremy win. He’s a nice guy. You know, what you see on television, it’s how he really is,” Hill said. “He’s an excellent guy, he’s a great friend of mine — really happy to see him win this race. As a family-owned team, I can relate because being our own Truck Series team is so tough at this level. So to do what those guys do, it’s really impressive and really special for them.”