Austin Hills gets historic Talladega win after late caution
- 9 hours ago
Richard Childress Racing's Austin Hill prevailed in a three-wide photo finish in the Ag-Pro 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway Saturday afternoon, edging ahead of Jeb Burton and his RCR teammate Jesse Love at the time the field was frozen with an electronic timestamp because of a caution on the back straightaway in the final lap.
The caution flag and checkered flag flew simultaneously after Love's No. 2 Chevrolet made contact with the rear of then-race leader JR Motorsports rookie Connor Zilisch just after the white flag came out signaling one lap to go. Zilisch's No. 88 Chevy spun down into the track apron hitting the wall hard leaving Hill, Burton and Love to sort out the trophy.
It marks the ninth superspeedway victory for Hill, making the 30-year-old Georgia-native the NASCAR Xfinity Series all-time winningest driver on drafting style tracks such as Talladega, Daytona and Atlanta -- breaking a tie with a pair of NASCAR Hall of Famers, Tony Stewart and the late Dale Earnhardt.
"Man, we really had to work for that one," said Hill, who now has a series-best three victories this year and 13 in his career. "It just seemed like our car was really good. Everyone at RCR and RCR engines are bad to the bone, like always. We had to work. I thought the 2 (Love) was really good and when we got the push from the 2 going into (turn) one, he got inside of me and I thought that was a bad mistake and I should have covered it. So I thought we were done. But I just locked in and kept pushing the heck out of the 2-car.
"I knew it was either me or the 27 (Burton)," he said of the photo finish. "Man, to win them -- any way you win them is always great -- and finally to conquer Talladega, that's something I've really wanted to do for a long time.
"We've won at all these other superspeedways and to finally get it done at all the different superspeedways we go to, it just shows the 21 team can win at any of them and we're really good at this style of racing."
It was especially tough outcome for Burton, who has two previous wins in this 2.66-mile high-banked Talladega track -- NASCAR's largest -- and still felt after the race that his No. 27 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet was leading the field at the time of caution (though video did confirm Hill's win).
"I felt like we did everything we could today, so just frustrated," said an emotional Burton, "Every angle I see, we won the race.
"Just appreciate my guys," he continued. "We do a lot with a little team. We don't have a lot of chances to win, you know. That's what's frustrating."
The defending race winner Love, who finished third, led a race-best 50 of the 113 laps on the day but conceded the last lap was a typical superspeedway all-out rush to the checkered flag.
"I'm pretty sure I wrecked my best friend, I'm going to owe him an apology," Love told the Motor Racing Network of contact with Zilisch, who was checked out in the infield care center and released post-race.
"I just got really good pushes there at the end and I was able to lift enough off of (turn) two to get really good pushes. I kind of thought we'd made our bed and were not in position to win, but I was able to get Austin (Hill) connected to me and he was able to give me a push down the backstretch and get rolling again."
Reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion, JR Motorsports' Justin Allgaier, finished fourth followed by Viking Motorsports' Matt DiBenedetto. Anthony Alfredo, Blaine Perkins, Harrison Burton, Sheldon Creed and rookie Daniel Dye rounded out the top 10. Zilisch, who led nine laps, was credited with 27th place.
Of note, Katherine Legge became the fourth woman in history to lead a NASCAR Xfinity Series race -- and the second at Talladega. The sports car and IndyCar veteran led lap 75 in the No. 32 Jordan Anderson Motorsport Chevrolet, equaling Danica Patrick's one-lap out front at Talladega in 2012.
Legge looked to be turning in a solid Talladega debut -- her second NASCAR Xfinity Series start this season -- and was running 15th on lap 100 when she was collected in an accident triggered by NASCAR veteran Aric Almirola, who later apologized, saying miscommunication with his spotter led to the high-speed miscue.
Allgaier's runner-up showing was enough for him to maintain a 79-point advantage over Hill atop the standings.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series moves to mile-and-a-half Texas Motor Speedway for next Saturday's Andy's Frozen Custard 300 (2 p.m. ET, The CW Network, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Haas Factory Team driver Sam Mayer is the defending race winner.
Reuters