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Hill Stymied by Late Qualifying Run During 360 Knoxville Nationals

(Photo by Paul Arch)

Inside Line Promotions – KNOXVILLE, Iowa (Aug. 10, 2021) – Alex Hill was unable to overcome a disappointing qualifying time during the 31st annual My Place Hotels 360 Knoxville Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank Friday night at Knoxville Raceway.

“Our Nationals didn’t go as well as we hoped,” she said. “We got off to a rough start on Friday in qualifying and that kind of set the way the rest of our night went.”

Hill drew the undesirable 46th qualifying position out of 47 drivers to begin her night.

“We had a bad draw since the track is usually slower later in qualifying,” she said. “I probably should’ve run a lap around the top to be safe, but I ran both on the bottom and I missed the exit in turn two each time. We qualified 37th and missed the heat race invert by a few spots. We also had an oil leak. The guys got it fixed in time for the heat race, but they didn’t have much time to do anything else to the car.”

The Hill’s Racing Team driver started eighth in her heat race, with the top four finishers advancing to the A Main.

“We had a good start in our heat race and were able to move forward and challenge for a transfer spot for a bit,” she said. “Then Davey Heskin got by me and my teammate, Dylan (Westbrook), passed me on the final lap and I finished seventh. I probably should’ve run the top more.”

Hill’s Nationals ended in the evening’s B Main, in which she started 17th and finished 13th.

“We ran pretty well in the B Main,” she said. “I made a mistake and hit the berm and lost a spot, but otherwise we were passing some cars and moving forward. There were just too many good cars for us to get to a transfer spot from 17th.

“We decided not to race on Saturday because we would start so far back. We were scheduled to start seventh in the D Main. We probably would’ve transferred from that to the back of the C Main, but we were concerned about getting caught up in a wreck starting there. They ended up crashing some cars in that race so it was probably a good decision.”

Hill will spend the remainder of this week in Knoxville supporting her teammate, Sam Hafertepe Jr., at the 410 Knoxville Nationals before returning to competition with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour on Aug. 27 at Wakeeney Speedway in Wakeeney, Kan.

QUICK RESULTS –

Aug. 6 – Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa – Qualifying: 37; Heat race: 7 (8); B Main: 13 (17).

SEASON STATS –

28 races, 0 wins, 2 top fives, 8 top 10s, 11 top 15s, 16 top 20s

UP NEXT –

Aug. 27 at Wakeeney Speedway in Wakeeney, Kan., with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour

MEDIA LINKS –

Website: http://www.HillsRacingTeam.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/HillsRacingTeam

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hillsracing/

SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – XYZ Machining

XYZ Machining is a manufacturer of aluminum and titanium sprint car parts located in Warsaw, Ind. Visit http://www.xyzmachining.com or XYZ Machining, Inc. on Facebook for more information.

“We get some of our parts from XYZ Machining,” Hill said. “Their quality is very good.”

Hill would also like to thank Townline Variety, BearPaw Gas and Convenience, Tony Stewart Racing, Ackland Insurance, Cool Chassis, Creative Edge Signs and Graphics, Lettrage Pixel, XYZ Machining, Fisher Racing Engines, Strodes BBQ and Deli, Allstar Performance, PPM Racing Products, Keizer Aluminum Wheels, Total Rentals, Original Traders Energy, PAC Racing Springs, Wilwood, DMI, MicroBlue, Vortex Racing Products, Saldana Racing Products, Kinsler Fuel Injection, KSE Racing Products, Brown and Miller Racing Solutions and Cigar Port for their continued support.

INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –

Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors.

To meet the media relations needs of your program by joining Team ILP, contact Shawn at 541-510-3663 or Shawn@InsideLinePromotions.com. For more information on Inside Line Promotions, visit http://www.InsideLinePromotions.com.