Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill continues his domination at the drafting tracks with his 9th career drafting victory, and first at the Talladega Superspeedway.
The RCR cars showed their hand from the beginning, with last week’s DQ’d winner Jesse Love planting his #2 car on pole, with Hill completing the front row sweep.
The teammates worked together at the start, with Hill’s #21 letting the #2 down in front onto the inside lane. Love managed the lanes behind him, holding off challenges from Nick Sanchez’ #48 and teammate Hill.
With one to go in the stage, Love fended off Ryan Sieg’s #39 with help from Eckes’ #16, earning his first stage win of the year. This win was also the first at a drafting track this year not attributed to Austin Hill.
Stage One Results:
- #2 Love
- #21 Hill
- #00 Creed
- #16 Eckes
- #39 Sieg
- #11 Williams
- #48 Sanchez
- #25 H. Burton
- #7 Allgaier
- #27 J. Burton
At the green flag for the second stage, Love lines up next to the #48 of Sanchez. In a battle for the lead, the #48 gets caught in the middle and sent back, with the #16 now challenging for the lead.
The lead then became more of a revolving door than it had been in the previous stage. With the #2 being swapped out for the man who took the win from him last week, Sammy Smith and two-time Talladega winner Jeb Burton.
The #2 charged up the middle lane and began battling the #21 for the stage victory, after making an ambitious move around the outside of the #27. But with three to go in the stage, the #7 pushes Hill out front for good. Hill claimed the second stage victory, claiming his 5th drafting stage win of the year.
Stage Two Results:
- #21 Hill
- #2 Love
- #19 Almirola
- #48 Sanchez
- #8 Smith
- #88 Zilisch
- #27 J. Burton
- #7 Allgaier
- #18 Sawalich
- #25 H. Burton
The #2 got out front again, officially placing himself sixth all time in laps lead in the draft in only nine starts.
57 to go saw the green flag in the final stage, with the #2 and #19 out front, but the lap was led in the end by the #21. The field rode around for 10 laps waiting for the fuel window to open up.
With 45 to go, the RCR cars pulled some of the Chevrolets into the pits. A few laps later, the remaining Chevrolets came down. When the two groups formed back up, they were unable to get single file. This allowed the Toyota group, who pitted with 40 to go, to jump them for the lead, with the #20 of Brandon Jones out front.
With 35 to go, the first caution for cause came out. As the pitted cars passed the #35 of Greg Van Alst for the overall race lead, a squeeze in the mid-pack turned the #8 off the nose of the #27, sending him into the wall. The #39 of Ryan Sieg also spun in the chaos, tearing the right side nose off of his vehicle.
The field reset at 28 to go, with the #20 and the #00 battling for the race win. The #00 got hung out on the outside, making room for the #88 of Connor Zilisch to challenge. Zilisch eventually swaps the lead with the RCR duo.
13 to go sees another caution for incident. Aric Almirola’s #19 moves up on Katherine Legge’s #32, sending them both into the outside wall and careening back down the track. Both the #24 and #26 were collected in the incident. In his post-wreck interview, Almirola blamed the crash on a communication issue with his spotter.
Now six to go, the field lines up for a sprint to the finish line. The #21 and the #88 line up with the #88 getting ahead into turn 1. Sanchez’ #48 got around the #21 and took the race lead from Zilisch. On the next lap, the #48 gets caught in the middle, allowing the #88 back into the lead, with both RCR cars struggling for momentum on the outside line. Coming to the end of three to go however, the #2 puts the #48 four-wide to get back in play.
At the white flag, the field is under the control of the #88, with challenges coming from every direction. On the backstretch, the #88 is sent spinning to the inside wall off the bumper of the #2, resulting in a hard impact. NASCAR threw the caution when the #2 was three-wide with the #21 and #27. Upon analysing the footage and timing lines, the #21 of Austin Hill was declared the winner. Connor Zilisch was out of the car and okay.
This win marks Hill’s ninth drafting track win in the Xfinity series, breaking a tie with the great Dale Earnhardt for most all-time.
Jeb Burton’s #27 was declared second, narrowly missing out on his third career Talladega victory, and Jesse Love was third. Defending champion Justin Allgaier came fourth and Matt DiBenedetto brought his Viking Motorsports #99 home in fifth. The fastest lap of the day wound up with the #51 of Jeremy Clements.
Allgaier leads the points standings with Austin Hill in second.
The Xfinity series rolls into Texas Motor Speedway next weekend.
Featured Image Credits: NASCAR_Xfinity on Twitter/X
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