Timmy Hill capped off a strong weekend at the Daytona International Speedway driving the No. 40 Dodge Charger for MBM Motorsports by scoring a top-20 finish.
After starting the race in 36th, Hill worked his way through the field to secure a 17th-place finish. The team had to face adversity late in the race after being involved in the “Big One” on Lap 100.
The No. 40 showed speed all weekend especially in the draft, which is what makes Daytona such a wildcard race. On Friday, the team made it through initial inspection, but with being one of the last cars to get springs and shocks put on, the team was forced to miss a portion of first practice. Once the car cleared tech, Hill jumped in the No. 40 and took some laps around Daytona to get a feel for the car and what needed to be changed to make the car faster. First practice came to an end with the No. 40 sitting in 24th.
After some adjustments to the car in-between practices, Hill went out for final practice where he’d draft with the No. 01 of Harrison Rhodes. Hill would sit first on the practice charts early and would gain more drafting practice with Ray Black Jr. and Jeremy Clements. Hill would finish final practice 5th and the car would go through final inspection, put in the garage as the sun would set on Thursday’s action at the “World’s Center of Racing”
Hill would qualify the No. 40 Dodge Charger in the 36th position but with the drafting practice performed the day before the team felt confident that they would move through the field and put on a good show for the fans in the stands.
When the race was continued on Saturday Afternoon, Hill drafted with teammate Mark Thompson in the early parts of the race. Hill brought the No. 40 down pit road for a full tank of fuel and an adjustment to the car to help it handle around the track. Hill used strategy to work his way up to 7th about the mid-part of the race.
As the field entered the back stretch with a few laps to go, Brandon Jones would get turned and go back down the track. Hill would get a push from the No. 99 that would send him into the big one where he’d make contact with Ben Kennedy.
“With just a few laps left in the race the big wreck occurred down the backstraightaway and even though we were right in the mix of the lead pack I felt like we were going to make it through clean but unfortunately got drilled from behind, shoving us into the wreck,” Hill said. “My guys, however, didn’t quit. I pulled to the pits where they bolted on new tires, pulled the damaged fenders and got me back on track”
As the red flag was lifted, Hill went back on track with a battered and bruised race car. As the field entered the backstretch another crash happened, but the opportunity to gain more positions would dissolve as the field passed the overtime line after the yellow was displayed, ending the race and putting the No. 40 in 17th.
“Very cool to grab a 17th-place finish. For a small team that is a big win but knowing we could’ve had more always leaves us feeling slightly disappointed. For our No. 40 team I felt like we put together a great strategy to protect our car all race and leave us with a shot at a top 10 run or even pulling off a miracle win.”
A 17th-place finish would tie Hill’s best finish of the season as he also finished 17th at Talladega earlier this season. Hill earns momentum going into Kentucky where he told OnPitRoad.com exclusively that he will be pulling double duty driving the No. 66 for MBM Motorsports in the Quaker State 400 along with racing in the XFINITY Series ALSCO 300 in either the No. 40 or No. 13.
“I can’t thank my guys for the hard work and I can’t wait to get back to work next week as we try to pull off the double with both the Cup and XFINITY cars!”
