Love Emerges Victorious at Daytona

(DAYTONA BEACH, FL – FEB 15, 2025 – RIS) Austin Hill’s pursuit of his fourth-consecutive victory in the season-opening NASCAR Xfinity Series race came to a premature end with problems in the rear axle of his No. 21 Chevy, sending the car to the garage after leading 56 laps and dominating the first two stages of the race. Jesse Love led 30 laps, giving RCR the lead in 86 of the 126 laps of the race, which ended under caution in overtime.

In a major weather contrast from this morning’s canceled qualifying session, the United Rentals 300 Xfinity Series race started under sunny skies. Brandon Jones’ car got a bad push from Jesse Love on lap five, setting up a multi-car crash that involved cars #20, 1, 10, 25, 44 and 88. A couple continued but Jones, Daniel Dye and Brennan Poole had too much damage to keep racing.

“It is way too early to be out of this race,” said Jones after being checked and released from the track’s care center. “There’s a lot of cars in line there and I had two teammates in front of me – and so I thought we were in a pretty good situation…. Always try to figure out how to get better at this craft, at this type of racing. But it looks to me right now there is nothing I could have done. That’s not how we wanted to begin our quest to go get a championship.”

Just a few laps into the green flag session following this caution, Brennan Poole’s hood flipped up over his windshield with pieces of the composite body falling off and causing a brief caution. 

Austin Hill led most of the first stage, heading 24 of the 30 laps on his way to taking the stage and earning a point in the season-ending playoffs.

Justin Allgaier headed the field from the restart with Sammy Smith making a dive to the inside in a challenge for the lead of the race, then only a lap after Smith took the lead, Jeb Burton repeated the move to the front. Austin Hill took the lead in the race after Burton led four laps, then with two laps to run in the second stage, Sheldon Creed touched Nick Sanchez entering the third turn, sending him into the wall and ending the stage under caution.

Hill kept the lead after pit stop action, until Sheldon Creed used a push from Ryan Sieg to take the lead, dropping Hill back to the second row of the two-wide pack.

Hill waited only a couple of laps before retaking the lead, followed by Sieg, Creed, Burton and Allgaier as the outside line moved ahead briefly. As the inner lane moved up, Hill dropped down in front of it, running side by side with Sieg. While all this was going on, Blaine Perkins’ car showed smoke behind it, with Perkins dropping off the track onto pit road. Hill reported to his crew that he smelled smoke in the car that seemed to be rear-end grease before a scheduled round of pit stops started with the lead Chevrolet teams pitting together. Justin Allgaier locked the left-front tire entering the pits and the team changed the tire. Hill sat in the pits with smoke visible in the cockpit, ending his hunt for a fourth consecutive victory in the season’s first race. He ran a couple of additional laps before pulling off the track to the garage. “It’s either a rear hub or gear or a combinatino of both,” reported Hill. “We showed we were the dominant team again. I’d almost rather get turned on the back stretch and end up on my lid than end it like this,” he said.

Kris Wright’s brakes failed as he tried to enter the pits, causing him to run into the back of Josh Bilicki’s car at the entrance to pit road. Wright’s car had to be towed to the garage but Bilicki could actually continue in the race.

Sheldon Creed, Sam Mayer, Jesse Love, Taylor Gray and William Sawalich were the top five runners as the field restarted the race. Love moved to the front with Creed and Mayer drafting until Jeb Burton and the inside lane drafted up to challenge for the lead. The challenge faded with Creed and Love moving into a side by side with Love moving into the lead before a multi-car crash in mid-pack brought out the yellow flag with eight laps to run. Justin Bonsignore moved to follow a teammate but touched Justin Allgaier, spinning himself and collecting Anthony Alfredo and Sammy Smith.

Love and Creed restarted on the front row, followed by Mayer and Gray, with Zilisch and Burton the third row. The green flag came back out with three laps to run, Love and Gray pulling out but Creed moved into second on the back straight, but on the back straight, Connor Zilisch got turned starting another multi-car crash for the seventh caution of the race.

Love chose the outside with Sam Mayer the inside, Love blocking to the inside and opening a lead ahead of the pack, which crashed approaching the white flag, with Love getting the white just before the yellow flag came out and ended the race, handing the Richard Childress Racing No. 2 the win.

Unofficial Results: United Rentals 300, February 15, 2025 - Daytona International Speedway
Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Pts, Status, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts
1) 9, Jesse Love, No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet, 126, 9, , 42, Running, 3, 30, 5
2) 8, Sam Mayer, No. 41 Audibel Ford, 126, , , 35, Running, , , 
3) 6, Sheldon Creed, No. 00 Friends of Jaclyn Ford, 126, 2, 3, 51, Running, 3, 7, 
4) 10, Carson Kvapil #, No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/Clarience Tech Chevrolet, 126, , , 33, Running, , , 
5) 2, Taylor Gray #, No. 54 Operation 300 Toyota, 126, 10, 7, 37, Running, 1, 1, 
6) 32, Harrison Burton, No. 25 Dead On Tools Ford, 126, , 10, 32, Running, 1, 1, 
7) 38, Jordan Anderson, No. 32 Volpi Chevrolet, 126, , , 30, Running, , , 
8) 19, Dean Thompson #, No. 26 Thompson Pipe Group Toyota, 126, 8, 5, 38, Running, , , 
9) 25, Jeremy Clements, No. 51 One Stop/All South Electric Chevrolet, 126, , , 29, Running, , , 
10) 35, Patrick Emerling, No. 07 Firman Power Equipment Chevrolet, 126, , , 27, Running, , , 
11) 30, Matt DiBenedetto, No. 99 Viking Motorsports Chevrolet, 126, , , 26, Running, , , 
12) 3, Christian Eckes #, No. 16 Celsius Chevrolet, 126, , , 25, Running, , , 
13) 36, Caesar Bacarella, No. 45 Mongoose Power Solutions Chevrolet, 126, , , 24, Running, 1, 4, 
14) 29, Josh Bilicki, No. 91 Rita's Italian Ice Chevrolet, 126, , , 23, Running, , , 
15) 37, Joey Gase, No. 53 NCPC Race Against Crime Chevrolet, 126, , , 22, Running, , , 
16) 22, Jeb Burton, No. 27 Golden Corral Chevrolet, 126, 4, 6, 33, Running, 1, 4, 
17) 33, Ryan Truex, No. 24 BB Printing Co Toyota, 126, , , 20, Running, , , 
18) 1, Justin Allgaier, No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet, 126, 7, 4, 30, Running, 5, 11, 
19) 14, Ryan Sieg, No. 39 Sci Aps Ford, 125, , 2, 27, Accident, 3, 10, 
20) 21, Josh Williams, No. 11 Alloy Employer Services Chevrolet, 125, , , 17, Accident, , , 
21) 34, Leland Honeyman, No. 70 DPR Construction Chevrolet, 125, 6, , 21, Accident, , , 
22) 27, Anthony Alfredo, No. 42 Dude Wipes Chevrolet, 125, 5, 9, 23, Accident, , , 
23) 24, Ryan Ellis, No. 71 Classic Collision Chevrolet, 125, , , 14, Running, , , 
24) 13, Sammy Smith, No. 8 TMC Transportation Chevrolet, 125, , , 13, Running, 1, 1, 
25) 15, Justin Bonsignore, No. 19 M3 Technology Toyota, 123, , , 12, Running, , , 
26) 16, Greg Van Alst, No. 35 CB Fabricating Chevrolet, 120, , , 11, Accident, , , 
27) 20, Connor Zilisch #, No. 88 WeatherTech Chevrolet, 118, , , 10, Accident, 1, 1, 
28) 5, William Sawalich #, No. 18 Soundgear Toyota, 118, , 8, 12, Accident, , , 
29) 28, Parker Retzlaff, No. 4 Visual Pak/Rewind It 10 Chevrolet, 118, , , 8, Accident, , , 
30) 18, Brennan Poole, No. 44 Macc Door Systems Chevrolet, 105, , , 7, Running, , , 
31) 31, Garrett Smithley, No. 14 Hire Heroes/The Veterans Ranch Chevrolet, 95, , , 6, Electrical, , , 
32) 17, Kris Wright, No. 5 First National Bank Corp Chevrolet, 86, , , 5, Accident, , , 
33) 4, Austin Hill, No. 21 Bennett Transportation Chevrolet, 82, 1, 1, 24, Rear End, 5, 56, 2
34) 26, Blaine Perkins, No. 31 WERNER Chevrolet, 79, , , 3, Power Steer, , , 
35) 11, Nick Sanchez #, No. 48 Big Machine Vodka Spiked Coolers Chevrolet, 59, 3, , 10, Accident, , , 
36) 23, Kyle Sieg, No. 28 Toppool.com Ford, 22, , , 1, Rear End, , , 
37) 7, Brandon Jones, No. 20 Menards/Swiffer Toyota, 5, , , 1, Accident, , , 
38) 12, Daniel Dye #, No. 10 Champion Container Chevrolet, 5, , , 1, Accident, , ,
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#)Rookie

Race Length: 126 Laps, 315. Miles
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 33 Mins, 17 Secs.
Average Speed: 123.301 MPH
Margin of Victory: Under Caution

Stage 1 Top 10: 21, 00, 48, 27, 42, 70, 7, 26, 2, 54
Stage 2 Top 10: 21, 39, 00, 7, 26, 27, 54, 18, 42, 25

Comments: Jesse Love has won the United Rentals 300 at Daytona International Speedway, his second victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Prior to the start, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reason(s) indicated: Nos. 4, 24, 42 (Unapproved Adjustments). 

Failed to Qualify: (3) 74 Carson Ware, 92 CJ McLaughlin, 29 JJ Yeley(i).

Cautions: 8 for 39 laps;
Laps: 7-11 (No. 20, 1, 10, 25, 44, 88 Incident Backstretch [None]);
21-25 (Debris [44]);
32-36 (Stage 1 Conclusion [None]);
60-65 (No. 48, 00 Incident Frontstretch / Stage 2 Conclusion [44]);
88-95 (No. 5, 91 Incident Frontstretch [None]);
114-117 (No. 19, 42, 8, 7, 32 Incident Turn 2 [07]);
120-124 (No. 88, 18, 4, 16, 71, 8, 35 Incident Backstretch [42]);
126-126 (No. 39, 42, 91, 7, 27, 32, 70, 11 Incident Frontstretch [None]).

Lead Changes: 24 among 11 drivers;
J. Allgaier 1-2;
T. Gray # 3;
J. Allgaier 4-5;
A. Hill 6-10;
J. Allgaier 11;
A. Hill 12-32;
J. Allgaier 33-37;
H. Burton 38;
J. Allgaier 39;
S. Smith 40;
J. Burton 41-44;
A. Hill 45-67;
S. Creed 68-69;
R. Sieg 70;
A. Hill 71-75;
R. Sieg 76-77;
A. Hill 78-79;
R. Sieg 80-86;
C. Bacarella 87-90;
S. Creed 91-94;
J. Love 95-102;
S. Creed 103;
J. Love 104-107;
C. Zilisch # 108;
J. Love 109-126.