Austin Hill maintained his race-winning status in front of his home crowd and sponsors at Richard Childress Racing by winning the Bennett Transportation and Logistics 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday, February 22, following a thrilling three-lap dash to the finish.
The 30-year-old Hill from Winston, Georgia, led five times for a race-high 146 of 163-scheduled laps in an event where he shared the front row with his teammate and pole-sitter Jesse Love. Once he assumed the lead for the first time on the 12th lap, Hill hardly looked back as he swept both stage periods and raced primarily at the front of the field that had fanned out to multiple lanes and was stacked deep amid the draft.
During the event’s final restart period with three laps remaining, Hill briefly lost the lead to Justin Allgaier, but he reassumed the top spot from the outside lane that had all the momentum while Allgaier chose to remain on the inside lane with hopes of gaining a draft from teammate Sammy Smith. After being drafted back to the lead by Aric Almirola for the following lap, Hill barely got loose exiting the backstretch and was locked in a tight side-by-side battle with Aric Almirola through the frontstretch at the start of the final lap. Hill then surged back ahead with a push from Parker Retzlaff through the first two turns and maintained the lead as a multi-car wreck that involved Retzlaff erupted on the frontstretch.
Amid the carnage, Hill proceeded to fend off Allgaier and Almirola through the final set of turns before he cycled back to the frontstretch victorious and win the spring Atlanta event for a third consecutive time and to notch both his third consecutive victory and his fifth overall at his home track.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, February 21, Jesse Love, winner of the 2025 season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway, notched his sixth Xfinity pole position of his career with a pole-winning lap at 174.724 mph in 31.730 seconds. Joining Love on the front row was teammate Austin Hill, the latter of whom clocked in his best qualifying lap at 174.378 mph in 31.793 seconds.
Prior to the event, Joey Gase dropped to the rear of the filed due to unapproved adjustments made to his No. 35 Joey Gase Motorsports Chevrolet entry.
When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Jesse Love received a push from Josh Williams to storm his No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet entry ahead of teammate Austin Hill entering the first two turns. With Love being placed on early defense by moving up the track to block Hill’s momentum through the backstretch, Williams would get shoved out of the draft amid an early three-wide action at the front. As Taylor Gray, Justin Allgaier, Sam Mayer and rookie Carson Kvapil all battled for third place, Love would lead the first lap over Hill.
Over the next three laps, Love would lead the field that was slowly fanning out to three-stacked lanes before Mayer used the inside lane to edge Love and lead the fourth lap by a hair. Love and Mayer would continue to duel for the top spot during the next lap before the event’s first caution flew due to rookie Dean Thompson coming to a full stop up the track in Turns 3 and 4 as he had a flat left-rear tire and right-side damage to his No. 26 Thompson Pipe Group Toyota Supra entry. At the same time, Ryan Sieg, who was racing towards the front, spun sideways towards the bottom of the track entering the backstretch, but he managed to keep No. 39 Sci Aps Ford Mustang entry intact.
During the event’s first caution period, some including Brandon Jones, Matt DiBenedetto, Nick Leitz, Kyle Sieg and Nick Sanchez pitted while the rest led by Love remained on the track. By then, Thompson was assessed a one-lap penalty for intentionally causing the caution by stopping on the track.
The start of the next restart period on the 11th lap featured Richard Childress Racing’s Love and Hill occupying the front row. At the start, both dueled for the lead until Hill, who restarted on the inside lane, received a push from rookie Christian Eckes to muscle ahead through the first two turns. Hill then veered his No. 21 Bennett Transportation Chevrolet entry to the right in front of Love through the backstretch and fended off Love through Turns 3 and 4 to lead the following lap. As Eckes led a small group of competitors in a draft in the inside lane, a majority of the field filed in a single-line formation towards the outside lane as Hill maintained the lead over Love, Mayer, Gray, Kvapil and rookie Connor Zilisch by the 15th lap.
Just past the Lap 20 mark, Hill was leading ahead of a long line of competitors as Love, Mayer, Gray, Kvapil, Zilisch, Harrison Burton, Sheldon Creed, Jeb Burton and Justin Allgaier all followed suit in the top 10. Behind, Josh Williams, Parker Retzlaff, Christian Eckes, Anthony Alfredo and Sammy Smith were racing in the top 15 while rookies Daniel Dye and William Sawalich along with Jeremy Clements, Aric Almirola and Leland Honeyman were scored in the top 20, respectively.
At the Lap 25 mark, the top-14 competitors were separated by more than a second of one another and racing in single-line formation as Hill continued to lead ahead of Love, Mayer, Gray and Kvapil, respectively. Over the next five laps, Creed and Eckes nearly made contact while swapping spots entering the first two turns within the top-15 mark, but they both kept their cars racing straight as Hill maintained the lead. With no competitors breaking out of the long single-file line towards the outside line, Hill proceeded to lead at the Lap 35 mark.
With five laps remaining in the first stage period, the top-13 competitors were separated by within a second over one another while the top-seven competitor were separated by less than a second. Amid the battles, Hill kept leading ahead of Love, Mayer, Gray and Kvapil, respectively.
Then on the final lap of the first stage period, Mayer steered his No. 41 Audibel Ford Mustang entry to the inside lane in his effort to overtake the two Richard Childress Racing competitors. Hill, however, also steered to the left to stall Mayer’s momentum. With Hill pulling away, Mayer was left to battle Love for the runner-up spot on his own through the backstretch and Turns 3 and 4. Amid the battles, Hill returned to the frontstretch to notch his third consecutive stage victory of the 2025 season and his first of Saturday’s event at Atlanta on Lap 45. Teammate Love edged Mayer for the runner-up spot as they were followed by Gray, Kvapil, Zilisch, Allgaier, Eckes, Harrison Burton and Creed, respectively.
Under the stage break, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Hill pitted for a first round of pit service while Leland Honeyman remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Hill and Love exited pit road in the top-two spots after both opted for two-tire pit services. Sammy Smith, who also elected a two-tire pit service, followed suit in third while Mayer led Gray, Creed, Eckes, Zilisch, Brandon Jones and Kvapil as competitors who received four fresh tires to their respective entries. Not long after, Honeyman would pit and Hill cycled back into the lead.
The second stage period started on Lap 53 as teammates Hill and Mayer occupied the front row. At the start, both dueled for the lead in front of two-stacked lanes for a full lap until Hill muscled ahead with drafting help from Love as he led the following lap. Hill, Love and Sammy Smith would all proceed to muscle ahead of the stacked field and a majority of the field would migrate towards the outside wall while Mayer kept leading the inside lane towards the Lap 55 mark.
Through the first 60-scheduled laps, nearly the entire field raced in single-line formation towards the outside lane as Hill led teammate Love, Sammy Smith, Gray, Zilisch, Eckes, Mayer, Creed, Kvapil, Williams, Allgaier, Ryan Sieg, Jeb Burton, Retzlaff, Sawalich, Alfredo, Jones, Almirola, Harrison Burton and Brennan Poole, respectively.
Ten laps later, Hill continued to lead as the top-19 competitors were separated by within two seconds of one another. A few laps later, Zilisch made a move on Gray for fourth place. Zilisch’s move caused the rest of the field racing behind to join Zilisch and resulted with Gray getting shoved out of the draft as he drifted back to within the top-20 mark.
On Lap 71, Love made his move beneath Hill through the first two turns to reassume the lead. Love would continue to lead through Lap 74 until Hill repaid the favor by going beneath Love, overtaking him and moving back in front of him amid the draft through the first two turns. As select names that included Harrison Burton, Aric Almirola and Allgaier started to break away from the single-line formation to the inside lane, Hill continued to lead over Love, Sammy Smith, Zilisch and Eckes at the Lap 80 mark.
Then with eight laps remaining in the second stage period, a charge led by Mayer on the inside lane ignited exiting the backstretch as the latter managed to overtake Love for the runner-up spot. Mayer’s charge forced Hill to go on defensive mode between two lanes while Love tried to keep pace from the outside lane. Hill and Mayer would proceed to muscle ahead of the field while Love was battling Creed dead even for third place. With Creed also clearing Love through the frontstretch with five laps remaining, Allgaier battled Love for fourth place while Hill maintained the lead.
Over the next three laps, the Haas Factory Team competitors of Mayer and Creed continued to race in single-line formation behind the leader Hill while Love was still mired in a side-by-side battle with Allgaier for fourth place.
During the final lap of the second stage period, teammates Mayer and Creed dueled as the former tried to gain a run on Hill through the first two turns. Hill proceeded to block Mayer’s advancement from the inside lane to the outside lane through the backstretch as Allgaier tried to overtake Creed for third place. With the field fanned out to two lanes behind him, Hill proceeded to win the second stage period on Lap 90. Mayer and Creed settled in second and third, respectively, while Allgaier edged Love for fourth place. By then, Almirola, Sammy Smith, Zilisch, Jeb Burton and Eckes were scored in the top 10.
During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Hill returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Hill retained the lead after he exited pit road first ahead of Mayer, Almirola, Allgaier, Sawalich, Sanchez, Gray, Sammy Smith, Ryan Sieg and Kvapil, respectively, as all went for a two-tire pit service. Amid the pit stops, Love exited pit road in 12th place following a four-tire pit service.
With 65 laps remaining, the final stage commenced under green as Hill and Allgaier occupied the front row. At the start, both dueled in front of two-stacked lanes for a full lap as Hill managed to lead the following lap by a hair. Hill would then receive a push from Mayer through the backstretch to clear Allgaier and lead two-stacked lanes over the next lap. As the field started to fan out to three lanes while Nick Sanchez battled Sammy Smith for third place, Hill fended off Allgaier to lead with 60 laps remaining.
The caution would then return with 57 laps remaining due to an incident involving CJ McLaughlin in Turn 2, where he blew a tire and went straight into the outside wall. During the caution period, none of the front-runners pitted as all were using the caution period to conserve their amount of fuel and have enough to reach the event’s scheduled distance.
As the race restarted under green with 50 laps remaining, Hill and Sanchez, both of whom occupied the front row, dueled in front of Mayer, Allgaier and the stacked field through the first two turns until Mayer pinned Sanchez in the middle lane with no drafting help through the backstretch. With Sanchez falling back, Hill muscled ahead with drafting help from Allgaier. Sammy Smith would then battle and overtake Allgaier for the runner-up spot as he was being drafted by Almirola. Meanwhile, Hill proceeded to lead the following lap. As both Sanchez and Love were trying to draft their way back to the front, the field continued to fan out to three lanes as Hill retained the lead with 47 laps remaining.
Then shortly after, the caution returned due to a multi-car wreck that started when Jeremy Clements got sideways in front of Blaine Perkins and Taylor Gray in Turn 2. While Perkins slid and hit the outside wall, Clements spun his No. 51 One Stop/All South Electric Chevrolet entry down the track and collided into both Gray and Zilisch as the trio were left with significant damage to their respective cars. Following the carnage, Clements, Perkins and Zilisch managed to continue while Gray, who sustained the most damage to his No. 54 Operation 300 Toyota Supra entry, retired.
The start of the ensuing restart with 40 laps remaining featured Georgia natives Hill and Ryan Sieg occupying the front row. At the start, both dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Hill launched ahead from the outside lane and with drafting help from Sammy Smith. Both Hill and Smith would then transition in front of Sieg on the inside lane prior to the following lap. As Brandon Jones began to have smoke coming out of his No. 20 Menards Toyota Supra entry due to a tire rub, the field quickly fanned out to three lanes entering the backstretch as Sieg battled Smith for the runner-up spot. As Sieg, Mayer and Allgaier all overtook Smith from second to fourth, respectively, in a draft, the caution returned with 38 laps remaining due to Jones cutting his left-rear tire and spinning from the bottom to the top of Turn 3. As the field scattered to avoid Jones’ entry, Mason Maggio spun to the bottom of the track.
With the event restarting under green with 32 laps remaining, Hill muscled ahead of Sieg entering the first turn as he quickly transitioned from the outside to inside lane. As the field fanned out to multiple lanes through the backstretch and back to the frontstretch, Hill retained the lead and he would lead while being placed on defensive mode with 30 laps remaining.
Down to the final 25 laps of the event, a majority of the field migrated to a single-file line towards the outside lane as Hill led ahead of Allgaier, Sammy Smith, Almirola, Parker Retzlaff, Eckes, Creed, Jeb Burton, Honeyman and Ryan Sieg, the latter of whom was leading the inside lane. Meanwhile, Sawalich, Mayer, Alfredo, Poole and Love were mired in the top 15 ahead of Kvapil, DiBenedetto, Sanchez, Ryan Ellis and Zilisch.
Then three laps later, the caution returned due to a vicious crash that started when Mayer, who was racing just outside of the top-10 mark, was hit by Sanchez, the latter of whom had also gotten sideways in Turn 3. As Mayer slid to the bottom of the track’s third turn, he bounced off of Zilisch’s No. 88 WeatherTech Chevrolet entry before he shot back across the track and hit the outside wall head-on as Alfredo piled into Mayer’s wrecked No. 41 Ford. The incident spoiled Mayer’s strong event in racing towards the front as he along with Alfredo were eliminated from further contention. During the caution period, select names including Zilisch, Kvapil and Sanchez pitted while the rest led by Hill remained on the track.
With the race restarting under green with 13 laps remaining, Hill and Almirola occupied the front row, but Hill received another strong shove from the outside lane by Allgaier to muscle ahead entering the first turn. Both Hill and Allgaier would rocket ahead of Almirola entering the backstretch and lead the field back to the frontstretch, where Hill led the next lap. Sammy Smith would then charge his No. 8 Pilot Chevrolet entry into the runner-up spot over teammate Allgaier through the first two turns and the backstretch as Creed tried to join the battle. As teammates Allgaier and Sammy Smith dueled in front of Creed, Almirola and two stacks of lanes, Hill would be placed on defensive mode, but maintain the lead with 10 laps remaining.
Following another late-race caution period with nine laps remaining due to debris being reported on the track, the event restarted under green with three laps remaining. At the start, Allgaier gained a brief advantage from the inside lane as he started to muscle his No. 7 Protect Your Melon Buckle Up Chevrolet entry ahead from the inside lane and with drafting help from teammate Sammy Smith. Despite Allgaier leading through a majority of the backstretch, Hill would come storming back from the outside lane as he was being drafted by Almirola’s No. 19 Yougnlife Toyota Supra entry. By then, Allgaier remained on the inside with hopes of gaining a draft from Smith.
Through the frontstretch, Hill would lead the following lap by a hair and he would receive another push from Almirola to launch ahead through the backstretch. Then as both Allgaier and Sammy Smith were trying to keep Hill within sight, Almirola received a huge push from Parker Retzlaff and Ryan Sieg to get to Hill’s rear bumper entering Turn 3. With Hill briefly getting loose and going up the track, Almirola made his move beneath Hill as both dueled entering the frontstretch.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Almirola was leading by a hair over Hill as he moved up the track and got Retzlaff, who was pushing Hill, sideways while trying to side-draft Hill. Almirola’s move, however, did not work as Hill stormed back into the lead through the first two turns. Then as the field fanned out entering the backstretch, Retzlaff, who slid back into fourth place, got sideways off the front nose of Creed and clipped Ryan Sieg, which sent the latter and Eckes head-on into the outside wall as more names, including Kris Wright and Carson Kvapil, also wrecked.
With the field scattering to avoid the crash and the race remaining under green flag conditions, Hill maintained the lead over both Almirola and Allgaier entering Turns 3 and 4. With Allgaier attempting to overtake Almirola entering the frontstretch, Hill was able to retain the top spot and claim the checkered flag to score another victory in front of his home crowd.
With the victory, Hill, who rallied from his late retirement during last weekend’s opener at Daytona International Speedway, notched his 11th career victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series division, his fifth overall at Atlanta, his eighth on a superspeedway venue and his first with his new full-time crew chief Chad Haney. Hill’s victory also marked his fourth consecutive victory at Atlanta as he has won five of the previous six Xfinity events at his home track. Hill has also won three in a row in Atlanta’s spring event.
As a result of drivers Hill and Jesse Love winning the first two-scheduled events of the 2025 Xfinity season, Richard Childress Racing has tallied a total of 99 victories in the series.
“On that [final] restart there, [Allgaier] got clear,” Hill said on the frontstretch on the CW Network. “I cannot believe he didn’t go top there down the backstretch. That was just a present for me. [I] Got down in the corner, got clear of him, then we came back around and we were about to come to the white [flag]. I drove into [Turn] 3. I really didn’t want [Almirola] to get to my right rear. Derek Kneeland, my spotter, he’s a bad man up top and he told me all night, ‘Just don’t let him get to your right rear,’ and I was so worried about letting him get under me because he had a run, but I had help out back, was abe to drag some brake as soon as I came off of [Turn] 4 [and] kept [Retzlaff] with me.”
“Thank you to Parker Retzlaff for giving me that push,” Hill continued. “Once I got clear and I landed into [Turn] 1, I was just wide open and I was hoping that they weren’t gonna build a momentum. This Bennett Chevrolet was as fast as Xfinity Mobile. It’s the Bennett 250. We have everyone here from Bennett. There’s over 500-plus people here. To be able to do this, it’s something special. We were able to do it last year with the gold car for [Bennett’s] 50th anniversary and they sponsored the qualifying [session at Atlanta]. It looks like, to me, they need to sponsor some more NASCAR Xfinity races because this has been some good omen for us. [Crew chief Chad Haney]’s been working his tail off this offseason. Him and I, I think, are gonna work great together. We’re gonna soak this one up, drink a lot of beer and get ready for the next race.”
Behind Hill, Allgaier bumped and edged Almirola at the finish line to finish in the runner-up spot. While Allgaier was left lamenting over remaining on the inside lane and not moving in front of Hill earlier amid the draft, Almirola was left delighted over his top-three run in his first of nine Xfinity starts of the 2025 season.
“I just watched the run develop on the top [lane],” Allgaier said. “Those guys had a big push and I really didn’t have any push behind me and at that point, I knew that I was probably a sitting duck if I tried to pull up in front [of Hill]. Really proud of this team. To put ourselves in position like we did, to be there at the end, I thought we were gonna be in great shape. When you look at the box score, Austin [Hill] led like what, 145 laps? Hats off to that team and everybody at [Richard Childress Racing] because that’s a butt-kicking than I’ve ever seen one.”
“I love racing these cars and it’s such a blessing to get to come do this,” Almirola said. “When I took the checkered flag at Phoenix [in November], I was like, ‘Alright well, that was it. Sail off into the sunset and enjoy retirement.’ Then I got this call to do this again. Just really happy and I had fun. I just told Justin [Allgaier] how much fun it was to race with him. [Hill] was certainly the dominant car and I thought we were gonna snooker him there and steal one away, but just came up a little bit short.”
Sammy Smith and rookie Nick Sanchez came home with top-five results. Jeb Burton, rookie Daniel Dye, Leland Honeyman, rookie William Sawalich and Harrison Burton completed the top 10 in the final running order.
Notably, Jesse Love ended up in 16th place while Brandon Jones and Sheldon Creed finished 13th and 14th, respectively. In addition, Ryan Sieg, Carson Kvapil, Kris Wright, Parker Retzlaff and Christian Eckes fell back to 20th, 23rd, 26th, 27th and 29th, respectively, following their last-lap wreck.
There were 11 lead changes for 16 different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 49 laps. In addition, 28 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the second event of the 2025 Xfinity Series season, Austin Hill leads the regular-season standings by a single point over Sheldon Creed, six over teammate Jesse Love, eight over Justin Allgaier and 18 over Jeb Burton.
Results:
1. Austin Hill, 146 laps led, Stages 1 & 2 winner
2. Justin Allgaier
3. Aric Almirola, one lap led
4. Sammy Smith
5. Nick Sanchez
6. Jeb Burton
7. Daniel Dye
8. Leland Honeyman, one lap led
9. William Sawalich
10. Harrison Burton
11. Jeremy Clements
12. Matt DiBenedetto
13. Brandon Jones
14. Sheldon Creed
15. Josh Williams
16. Jesse Love, 13 laps led
17. Brennan Poole
18. Ryan Ellis
19. Blaine Perkins
20. Ryan Sieg
21. Joey Gase
22. Nick Leitz, one lap led
23. Carson Kvapil
24. Garrett Smithley
25. CJ McLaughlin
26. Kris Wright
27. Parker Retzlaff
28. Mason Massey
29. Christian Eckes – OUT, Accident
30. Josh Bilicki, one lap down
31. Mason Maggio, one lap down
32. Carson Ware, two laps down
33. Kyle Sieg, nine laps down
34. Connor Zilisch – OUT, Accident
35. Dean Thompson, 14 laps down
36. Sam Mayer – OUT, Accident, one lap led
37. Anthony Alfredo – OUT, Accident
38. Taylor Gray – OUT, Accident
Next on the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, for the Focused Health 250. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, March 1, and air at 2:30 p.m. ET on the CW Network.
