DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – As the No. 31 of Myatt Snider flipped vertically behind him in a massive backstretch wreck, Austin Hill took the lead on the last lap and won Saturday night’s NASCAR Xfinity Series season opener at Daytona International Speedway.
Hill, 27, claimed his first Xfinity Series win in his 16th start. It was also his first start with Richard Childress Racing.
Hill took the checkered and caution flags together after he passed A.J. Allmendinger for the lead. Allmendinger finished second and Noah Gragson was third.
RESULTS: Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. 300
“Man, I’m speechless,” Hill said. “Me and (spotter) Derek Kneeland worked really well. I was learning all night. I kept telling him, ‘I’m just putting that in the bank, I’m putting that in the bank, I’m putting that in the memory bank to remember for late in the race.’
“We timed it perfectly. Obviously that caution came out but we had a heck of a run, so who knows what would have happened there.”
The victory is Hill’s second at Daytona. He earned his first Truck Series victory in 2019 with Hattori Racing Enterprises at the 2.5-mile speedway.
“I was able to drag back, (Riley Herbst) gave me a heck of a push, we were able to get by (Allmendinger), and this is so crazy,” Hill said. “I won it back in 2019 with a new team, now we’re with RCR, first race with them. We were able to get the job done.”
Allmendinger’s runner-up finish came after he led three times for 18 laps. That included 13 of the 14 laps prior to the white flag.
“You try to defend both lines there, we got single file and I saw Austin move up to the top there,” Allmendinger told reporters. “I’m still learning, trying to get better at not getting too far out in the lead there. He just timed it perfect. … Unfortunately, as soon as he started to pass me I looked in my mirror and saw the big wreck behind me. Hopefully, everybody’s ok.”
Snyder was treated and released from the infield care center after his violent crash on the last lap.Â
He told reporters his left foot was sore and that he would have it looked at before next week’s race at Auto Club Speedway.
Daniel Hemric started the race from the pole while Hill started second. Hill took the lead for the first time on lap three. It was the first time he’d led a lap in the Xfinity Series.
The first caution period came on lap 13 for a wreck on the backstretch that involved Joe Gibbs Racing’s Drew Dollar and Jeremy Clements. They were running in the top 10 at the time of the incident. Both Clements and Dollar, who was making his series debut, were eliminated.
The race resumed on lap 19 of 120 with Hemric in control of the lead. He held off charges from JR Motorsports’ Josh Berry and Allmendinger to win the first stage.
During pitstops, Brandon Brown was first out of the pits after not taking any tires. Hemric fell to about 10th when he was the first car to take four tires. Joe Graf Jr., who didn’t pit, quickly lost the lead to Brown on the restart.
The field largely formed into a single line on the high side for the early part of the second stage. That lasted until lap 45 when the Kaulig Racing cars of Hemric, Allmendinger and Landon Cassill helped form a second line.
On lap 48, Gragson took the lead for the first time. He held serve at the point position until the final lap of the stage. Exiting turn two, Hemric made contact with Gragson and nearly turned him around. As Gragson recovered, Hemric received a push from Ryan Sieg to give him the lead and the stage win.
“I’ll remember that,” Gragson told reporters. “It was a good save, but I’ll remember how it happened and we’ll be alright.” Gragson later added: “I’m going to go back and watch it and not allow it to happen again. Learn from it.”
Hemric kept the lead off pit road and the race resumed with 54 laps to go. The Kaulig Racing cars pit from the lead with 46 laps to go, ceding the lead to Ty Gibbs.
The next time by rookie Sam Mayer spun while trying to enter pit road, but there was no caution.
Josh Bilicki, running with a group of mid-pack cars, took the lead and didn’t pit until debris off Mayer’s car brought out the caution with 37 laps to go.
Under the caution Hemric reported a vibration to his team. He was among the cars that pit. The No. 11 team took extra time during its stop to fix damage to the car’s nose from his run-in with Gragson. Hemric was then called for speeding, but he would have started from the rear anyway.
One lap after the ensuing green flag, a 10-car wreck unfolded on the frontstretch. It collected Hemric, damaging his rear bumper and ending his chances.