Hattori Racing Enterprises (HRE) announced today that the organization will field an entry in the NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) once again in 2020. Team owner Shige Hattori will enter the No. 61 AISIN Group Toyota Supra in the series opener at Daytona International Speedway (DIS) on February 15th. Austin Hill, a four-time winner in 2019 for HRE in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoor Truck Series, will be behind the wheel at DIS as the organization plans to enter select events this season.
“We’re excited to have another chance to move into the Xfinity Series with AISIN Group and Toyota Tsusho”, Hattori said. “The Supra is a famous brand and model in Japan, and we want to be a part of it here in the U.S. and continue to grow our team. AISIN Group has helped our team for many years and we hope to get them into victory lane again with Austin.”
The 2019 Gander Trucks victor at DIS will kick off his season with a double-duty weekend at the “World Center of Racing” while also driving the No. 16 Toyota Tundra on February 14th. Hill will attempt to make his second NXS start after his series debut resulted in a ninth-place finish last season at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“It’ll be fun for sure doing double duty”, Hill said. “It was great to get AISIN Group to victory lane last year on the truck side at Michigan and hopefully we can do it again in a Toyota Supra. They’ve been such a big part of HRE for a long time and I’m excited to get a chance to be back in the Xfinity Series with their support.”