Even though Austin Hill wasn’t successful in continuing his season-opener win streak, teammate Jesse Love made sure that Richard Childress Racing (RCR) kept the bragging rights in-house, winning Saturday’s United Rentals 300.
The defending Xfinity Series Rookie of The Year used lessons learned from his teammate to guard the race-lead from the hungry pack behind, securing his second career win in the series, both of which have come at either Daytona or Talladega.
Love managed to lead 30 of the race’s final 32 laps on his way to the victory, holding off the Haas Factory Team duo of Sam Mayer and Sheldon Creed. The Menlo Park, California-native was declared the winner shortly after taking the white flag, as a massive crash broke out behind the leaders and forced a caution flag.
“I just listened to the guy up there [spotter, Brandon Benesch],” Love told The CW post-race.
“Bummer what happened to [Austin Hill]. I’m not sure what happened but he was really dominant tonight, and we’re working on changing our culture here at [Richard Childress Racing]. We’re winners. We know we are. We all want to win a championship for Richard Childress.”
Hill, the winner of the last three Xfinity season-opening events at Daytona, was out in front for much of the event, leading a race-high 56 laps, but suffered a mechanical issue during the middle portion of the event, causing the No. 21 Chevrolet to retire the car.
As soon as Hill, the winner of the race’s first two stages, pulled off the racetrack with his issues, the baton was figuratively passed to his teammate, as almost instantaneously, the second-year Xfinity Series driver surged to the front of the pack.
RESULTS: 2025 NXS United Rentals 300 at Daytona
In NASCAR Overtime, Love faced virtually no challenges from the pack behind, despite Sam Mayer and Sheldon Creed getting lined up on the restart and making a push towards the front of the pack. However, the yellow was displayed before a pass could be made.
Mayer finished in the runner-up position, his best-ever finish at Daytona International Speedway, after entering the event having never finished inside the top-10. His teammate Sheldon Creed finished in third, recording yet another top five without a victory.
Carson Kvapil miraculously managed to squeeze a fourth place finish out of the evening, despite being involved in two different wrecks, one of which tore the rear bumper off the No. 1 Chevrolet on the fifth lap of the event.
Taylor Gray, a rookie for Joe Gibbs Racing, managed a top-five result, after being a fixture towards the front of the pack all evening.
Harrison Burton recorded a sixth-place result in his first NASCAR Xfinity Series start with AM Racing, and his first start in the second-tier series after being in the NASCAR Cup Series the last three seasons with Wood Brothers Racing.
Jordan Anderson continued his trend of bringing home solid finishes on the superspeedways, finishing seventh in the No. 32, a third entry for the organization.
Another NASCAR Xfinity Series rookie Dean Thompson had an impressive showing on Saturday, collecting nine stage points and finishing in eighth place. Jeremy Clements finished ninth and claimed a bonus point for having the Xfinity Fastest Lap.
Patrick Emerling, after four Modified victories during Speedweeks at New Smyrna Speedway, rounded out the top 10 in the No. 07 for SS-GreenLight Racing.
As superspeedways typically do, the event featured several multi-car incidents, the first of which took out Brandon Jones and Daniel Dye on the fifth lap. Later in the race, Kris Wright lost control of his No. 5 and plowed into Josh Bilicki and Ryan Truex at the entrance to pit road, creating a puzzling situation for the Our Motorsports driver.
The race featured eight cautions for 39 laps and had 24 lead changes among 11 drivers.
Leaving Daytona, Sheldon Creed holds the regular-season points lead by nine markers over race-winner Jesse Love. Dean Thompson currently sits third, just 13 points behind Creed.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series will return to action next Saturday, February 22 at 5:00 PM ET at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Coverage of the event will be on The CW, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
