DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — In a typically wild finish at Daytona International Speedway, Jesse Love won the United Rentals 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series season-opener in overtime, taking the white flag moments before a massive multi-car accident behind him brought out a caution, officially ending the race.
An out-of-breath Love emerged from his No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet’s roof hatch on the Daytona International Speedway infield grass to the cheers of his team celebrating the 20-year-old Californian’s second career win.
“So many people have helped me get to this point,” said Love, who led three times for 30 laps on the evening.
“Not sure what happened to the 21 tonight,” Love said, referring to teammate Austin Hill, “but he was really dominant tonight. We’re working on changing our culture here at RCR. We’re winners, we know we are, and we really want to win a championship for Richard Childress. I’m ready to go to [the next race at] Atlanta now.”
Love put his Chevrolet out front on the final three restarts, exchanging the point briefly with Haas Factory Team’s Sheldon Creed before taking the position for good with 18 laps remaining and ultimately holding off the Haas drivers Sam Mayer and Creed. Rookies Carson Kvapil and Taylor Gray were just behind rounding out the top five.
As Love indicated, for most of the early race, it looked as if his teammate, three-time defending race winner Hill, was going to turn in an incredible fourth straight win in the season opener. He won Stages 1 and 2 and led 56 of the opening 82 laps, the most laps out front on the night. Together, Love and Hill led all but 40 of the race’s 126 laps.
Hill’s No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, however, had engine issues shortly after the second stage break. Hill reported smoke inside his cockpit and other drivers said his car was leaking fluid out the back.
Although Hill stayed out front, he pit with a handful of other Chevrolets on Lap 80, and when the RCR team checked under the hood, it was apparent the issue was terminal.
The team declared the car done, reiterating to their driver it wasn’t “for lack of effort” on the night.
“Such a bummer, we had such a fast Chevrolet,” Hill said after parking his car in the garage. “Everybody at RCR and ECR did a great job building this race car. We showed we were the dominant team again getting the stage wins there. I just wish that we could have lost this race on our terms, not from a mechanical failure.
“I’d almost rather get turned on the backstretch on the white flag lap and end up on my lid than have it end like this. This one is going to sting a little bit, but we have Atlanta next week and I feel like we’re going to be good all year long in 2025. I feel really good about this team.”
The two rookies who finished inside the top-five were indicative of a strong showing for the large first-year class. Several were eliminated while running inside the top-10 on track — from Daniel Dye in the race’s opening accident to highly-touted series newcomers Connor Zilisch, William Sawalich and Christian Eckes who were all collected in an accident with three laps remaining in regulation — all running in the top-10 at the time.
Last summer’s NASCAR Cup Series Daytona race winner Harrison Burton finished sixth in his return to fulltime NASCAR Xfinity Series racing. Jordan Anderson, Dean Thompson, Jeremy Clements and Patrick Emerling rounded out the top-10 in a race that saw 11 different leaders and 24 lead change on the 2.5-mile Daytona high banks.
Clements set the Xfinity Fastest Lap of the race, earning a bonus point. Creed takes a nine-point lead over Love atop the early championship standings.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series returns to competition next Saturday on the Atlanta Motor Speedway high-banks (5 p.m. ET on CW, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The Georgia-native Hill swept both Atlanta races last year.