Austin Hill returned victorious to commence a new season of NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series racing by winning the season-opening United Rentals 300 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, February 14.
The 31-year-old Hill from Winston, Georgia, led six times for a race-high 78 of 120 scheduled laps in an event where he started on pole position, swept both of the event’s first two stage periods and battled towards the front amid the draft and tight-packed racing.
Through two strategic pit stops and staying clear of two multi-car wrecks for the majority of the final stage period, Hill executed crucial moves through the draft. He navigated back to the front after his entry was serviced and returned atop the leaderboard with nearly 10 laps remaining. Despite having his progress stalled through two late cautions and a two-lap shootout, Hill fended off late surges from Brennan Poole, Justin Allgaier and Jordan Anderson on the final lap, surging to his unprecedented fourth victory in the season opener in Daytona.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Austin Hill secured the pole position with a pole-winning lap at 182.223 mph in 49.390 seconds. Hill shared the front row with teammate Jesse Love, the latter of whom clocked in his fastest qualifying lap at 182.219 mph in 49.391 seconds.
Prior to the event, Anthony Alfredo, who initially did not qualify for the event, dropped to the rear of the field after he replaced Caesar Bacarella in the No. 4 Alpha Prime Racing Chevrolet entry. The following names that included Harrison Burton, Kyle Sieg, Carson Ware and Parker Retzlaff also dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments that were made to their respective entries.
Just as teammates Austin Hill and Jesse Love led the field through the frontstretch to take the green flag and commence the 2026 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series season, the event’s first caution quickly flew when a stack-up ignited a chain reaction and chaos within the mid-pack region.
In the process, Jeremy Clements and Brennan Poole were sent spinning through the frontstretch’s grass while numerous competitors that included Marion Maggio, Anthony Alfredo, Luke Fenhaus, Natalie Decker, Patrick Emerling, Lavar Scott and Josh Williams sustained damage to their respective entries. The competitor who sustained the most damage was Maggio, who T-boned into the rear of Emerling.
Following an extensive caution period, the event restarted under green on the sixth lap. At the start, Hill and William Sawalich dueled for the lead in front of the field that was fanned out to two-stacked lanes through the first two turns and the backstretch. As the field fanned out to three lanes through the backstretch, with a third lane being led by Ryan Sieg, Sawalich muscled ahead from the inside lane and led the next lap over Hill and Sam Mayer.
Through the first 10-scheduled laps and as the field continued to battle through three lanes, Hill was leading over teammate Love, Ryan Sieg, Kvapil and Sawalich while Brandon Jones, Corey Day, Sam Mayer, Nick Sanchez and Patrick Staropoli were jostling in the top 10. Behind, Sheldon Creed, Jeremy Clements, Carson Hocevar, Rajah Caruth, Dean Thompson, Sammy Smith, Justin Allgaier, Taylor Gray, Harrison Burton and Giovanni Ruggiero were mired in the top 20, respectively.
Five laps later, a majority of the field migrated in single-line formation towards outside lane. This formation was led by Hill, who also continued to lead the event over Love, Kvapil, Sanchez and Clements while Sammy Smith, Thompson, Mayer (who led inside lane), Harrison Burton and Blaine Perkins were mired in the top 10. Meanwhile, Ryan Sieg, who fell off the pace a few laps earlier due to a cut tire and cycled for a full lap before pitting under green, was mired in 37th place and pinned a lap down.
Over the next five laps, Mayer, who led a draft from the inside lane, got as close to battling Love for the runner-up spot as Hill maintained the lead. Prior to the Lap 20 mark and as the front-runners fanned out to three lanes, Mayer got shuffled out of line by Sammy Smith and drifted out of the top-10 mark. Amid the three-wide action, the outside lane led by Hill maintained the upper advantage with a majority of competitors racing towards the outside lane amid the draft. Meanwhile, Hill proceeded to lead through the Lap 25 mark until Sammy Smith came charging back with a draft from the inside lane.
Then approaching Lap 28, Day, who was pinned in a three-wide battle with Sawalich and Allgaier for ninth place, snapped sideways and spun to the bottom of the track entering the frontstretch. As Day straightened his entry, he barely hit the inside wall on the left-rear side, but he managed to avoid sustaining more damage to his left side, pilot back up into the racing surface without getting collided and continue without drawing a caution.
Then as the front-runners entered the frontstretch, a multi-car wreck erupted when Mayer, who was trying to claim third place, made contact and sent Sammy Smith sideways through Turns 3 and 4. Both caused a stack-up and collected both Creed and Ruggiero before all shot up the track and wrecked against the outside wall, thus collecting Sanchez. With the caution flying and the field completing both the Lap 30 mark and the first stage period, Hill cruised to capture the first stage victory over Love, Kvapil, Allgaier, Perkins, Creed, Sawalich, Sanchez, Clements and Jones.
Under the event’s first stage break period, a majority of the field led by Hill pitted for service while select names led by Alfredo remained on the track. Once those led by Alfredo pitted during the next lap under caution, Kvapil, who was the first competitor to exit pit road first during the previous lap, cycled to the lead over Love and Hill.
The second stage period started on Lap 38 as Love and Hill occupied the front row in front of Caruth, Kvapil, Jones and Sawalich. At the start, Love received the upper advantage from the outside lane as he muscled ahead through the frontstretch. He then transitioned from the outside to the inside lane in front of teammate Hill as the former led through the first two turns and the backstretch. As both Hill and Caruth dueled for the runner-up spot in front of two-stacked lanes, Love led the next lap. Despite muscling ahead of Caruth during the following lap, Hill would be repeatedly challenged by Sawalich for the runner-up spot through every turn and straightaway as Love led the Lap 40 mark.
At the Lap 45 mark, the top-21 competitors were separated by nearly two seconds of one another amid the draft as Hill navigated his way back to the lead over Sawalich, Love, Caruth, Allgaier, Kvapil, Taylor Gray, Brandon Jones, Clements and Retzlaff. With the field fanning out to three drafting lanes, Hill, who went on defensive mode through all lanes, continued to lead by Lap 50.
When the second stage concluded on Lap 60, Hill fended off late challenges from Caruth and Kvapil to go two-for-two in stages in 2026. Kvapil, Allgaier, Sawalich and Caruth settled in the top five while Retzlaff, Sammy Smith, Clements, Jeb Burton and Perkins were scored in the top 10. Notably, Day, who snapped sideways entering the frontstretch for a second time but managed to keep his car racing straight and in race pace with the pack, settled in 11th ahead of Jones, Love, Gray and Austin Green.
During the event’s second stage break period, the lead lap field led by Hill returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Hill exited first over Sawalich, Allgaier and the rest of the field.
With 53 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Hill and Sawalich occupied the front row. At the start, Hill received an early boost from Allgaier from the inside lane. This enabled Hill to launch ahead through the first two turns, though Hill quickly went on defensive mode on Sawalich due to losing the draft from Allgaier. Allgaier would regain his advantage from the inside lane as he had teammate Caruth drafting him. While Allgaier and Sawalich dueled for the runner-up spot, Hill led the next lap moments before Allgaier tried to mount a charge alongside Hill from the inside lane.
Down to the final 50 laps of the event, the field fanned out to three-wide formation amid tight-pack racing. At the front, Hill was leading ahead of Sawalich, Jones, Allgaier, Kvapil, Gray, Caruth, Jeb Burton, Love and Clements while Daniel Dye, Day, Retzlaff, Mayer, Perkins, Austin Green, Kyle Sieg, Patrick Emerling, Josh Williams and Staropoli trailed in the top 20, respectively.
Ten laps later, green flag pit stops occurred as the leader Hill, Love, Retzlaff, Perkins, Jeb Burton and Caesar Bacarella peeled off the racetrack and pitted, primarily for fuel. Taylor Gray and Daniel Dye pitted during the next lap before Sawalich pitted the lap after. Amid the pit stops and with the field scattered through different pit strategies, Mayer assumed command of the field and over Allgaier, Day, Kvapil and Kyle Sieg while Emerling, Clements, Sammy Smith, Caruth and Jones were in the top 10 with 35 laps remaining.
The leader Mayer led the top-11 competitors to pit road with 34 laps remaining while Jordan Anderson, Hocevar, Poole, Josh Bilicki and Ryan Ellis remained on the track. Then once the latter five competitors pitted under green, Love, who trailed the top-five competitors by 19 seconds, cycled to the lead.
Shortly after, the caution flew for a multi-car wreck that erupted through the first two turns. The incident started when Ryan Sieg got turned off the front nose of Jeb Burton while Taylor Gray clipped teammate Jones and the latter two spun while trying to avoid Sieg. In the process, Allgaier made contact with Gray’s spinning entry while Mayer collided into Jones’ Toyota. Mayer then received more heavy contact from both the outside wall and a hard-charging Clements before the former’s wrecked entry slid down the track’s apron, went back up the track and was collided into by Natalie Decker.
The latest multi-car incident was enough for the event to be placed in a red flag delay for 13 minutes to have the carnage scene cleaned up. When the red flag lifted and the field proceeded under a cautious pace, some including Hill, Day, Anderson, Alfredo, Dye, Cody Ware and Bilicki pitted while the rest led by Love remained on the track.
The start of the next restart with 24 laps remaining featured Love and Smith on the front row as the duo restarted in front of Kvapil, Perkins, Caruth and Retzlaff. At the start, Love and Smith had Perkins and Kvapil, respectively drafting them through the first two turns and the early portions of the backstretch before the rest of the field led by Caruth and Retzlaff caught back up to them. As the field got jumbled up while racing in two-wide formation entering the frontstretch, Love led the next lap over Smith. The field began to slowly fan out to three lanes, as Smith muscled ahead of Love, Kvapil and the filed to lead the following lap.
Then with 21 laps remaining, the caution returned when Sawalich, who was racing in fifth place, received a tap from Day and spun in Turn 3. With Day making contact with Sawalich, a second multi-car wreck ignited that involved Hocevar, Gray, Dye, Harrison Burton, Jeb Burton, Caruth, Staropoli, Kyle Sieg and Lavar Scott.
As the event restarted under green with 13 laps remaining, teammates Hill and Love, both of whom occupied the front row, battled dead even for the lead for a full lap in front of Perkins, Smith and the rest of the field stacked amid two-packed lanes. Both Hill and Love continued to battle dead even through the fronstretch and the start of the next lap before the caution returned due to Jeb Burton blowing a right-front tire and scattering debris across the track.
Hill and Love again dueled for the lead through the first two turns during the next restart with eight laps remaining as Smith and Perkins followed suit in two-wide formation. As the field briefly got bunched up through the backstretch, Hill managed to muscle ahead of Love and have both lanes to his control, where he led the next lap. Behind Hill, Perkins challenged Love for second in front of Smith and Retzlaff as the field fanned out. After reeling in Hill, Love then executed a bold crossover move beneath Hill through the frontstretch to lead next lap from inside lane, but Hill drew back even from outside and muscled ahead.
Following another caution that flew with six laps remaining due to both Caruth and Hocevar spinning in the backstretch, the event restarted with two laps remaining. During the latest start, Hill and Smith, both of whom received respective pushes from Poole and Love, navigated the field through the first two turns. Then through the backstretch, Kvapil made a bold charge from a third lane towards the outside wall, but his momentum got stalled as both Love and Smith moved in front of him. Their moves allowed Hill to muscle ahead as he had both Poole and Allgaier drafting him through Turns 3 and 4.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Hill remained in the lead ahead of a four-car breakaway that involved Poole, Allgaier and Jordan Anderson while the rest of the field were trying to reel in Hill. As Hill continued to lead through the first two turns and the early portions of the backstretch, Poole received big pushes from both Allgaier and Anderson that caused Poole to get loose and go up the track through the backstretch.
As Poole lost his momentum, Allgaier also nearly went up the track after he received a big push from Anderson. This allowed Anderson to get underneath Allgaier and reel in to Hill’s rear bumper through the backstretch. Hill managed to remain in front of Anderson and receive a push from the latter to slightly boost ahead. With both Allgaier and Anderson unable to reel in Hill from drafts, Hill cycled back to the frontstretch and claim the checkered flag by 0.081 seconds.
With the victory, Hill notched his 15th career win in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series division, his fourth win at the Daytona opener in five years, his 11th on superspeedway venues and his first since he won at Talladega in October 2025.
Hill’s Daytona victory also marked the record-setting 11th O’Reilly win at the World Center of Racing for Richard Childress Racing and the 54th time where the Chevrolet nameplate was piloted to Victory Lane at Daytona.
During his celebrations in Victory Lane, Hill credited the risky pit call made by his crew chief Chad Haney to pit under caution with less than 30 laps remaining that enabled Hill to navigate his way back to the lead amid the draft and the intense racing within the packed field.
“[I] Drove right up through there, and then I wanted to work with my teammate there at the end, Jesse [Love], but I just knew that the bottom was going to surge, or I felt like it was,” Hill said in Victory Lane on the CW Network. “The top lane always gets discombobulated, they move around a lot and everyone’s trying to screw everybody over, so I just thought the bottom lane was probably the best thing for me.”
“[I] Thought I messed up on my white flag lap off of [Turn] 2,” Hill added. “I got way out and luckily, I was able to make the block on [Allgaier], and I almost missed the block on whoever the blue car [Anderson] was. I almost missed this block, and right when I got down, he gave me a shot. I had to save the car and then after that, it was just hammer down and just hoping that they wouldn’t get back to me. Daytona’s been so good to me. I love this place, and it’s always fun to win and always fun to be here in Victory Lane talking to you [reporters].”
Justin Allgaier muscled his way into the runner-up spot followed by Ryan Sieg while Jordan Anderson settled in fourth place in front of Sammy Smith. Ryan Ellis, Carson Kvapil, Blaine Perkins, Jesse Love and Rajah Caruth completed the top 10 in the final running order.
The 2026 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series season opener featured 15 lead changes for eight different leaders, and seven cautions for 36 laps. In addition, 21 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the first event of the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series season, Austin Hill leads the standings by 25 points over Justin Allgaier, 28 over Carson Kvapil, 38 over Jesse Love and 39 over Sammy Smith and Blaine Perkins apiece.
Results:
1. Austin Hill, 78 laps led, Stages 1 & 2 winner
2. Justin Allgaier
3. Ryan Sieg
4. Jordan Anderson, four laps led
5. Sammy Smith, one lap led
6. Ryan Ellis, one lap led
7. Carson Kvapil
8. Blaine Perkins
9. Jesse Love, 27 laps led
10. Rajah Caruth, one lap led
11. Anthony Alfredo
12. Brennan Poole
13. Patrick Emerling
14. Parker Retzlaff
15. Kyle Sieg
16. Lavar Scott
17. Josh Bilicki
18. Patrick Staropoli
19. Carson Ware
20. Carson Hocevar
21. Daniel Dye
22. Austin Green, two laps down
23. Luke Fenhaus, three laps down
24. Sheldon Creed, four laps down
25. Jeb Burton – OUT, DVP
26. William Sawalich – OUT, DVP, two laps led
27. Corey Day – OUT, Accident
28. Taylor Gray – OUT, Accident
29. Harrison Burton – OUT, Accident
30. Brandon Jones – OUT, DVP
31. Sam Mayer – OUT, Accident, six laps led
32. Jeremy Clements – OUT, Accident
33. Natalie Decker – OUT, Accident
34. Josh Williams – OUT, Engine
35. Dean Thompson – OUT, Suspension
36. Nick Sanchez – OUT, Accident
37. Giovanni Ruggiero – OUT, Accident
38. Mason Maggio – OUT, Accident
With the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series season underway, the next event on the schedule is EchoPark Speedway in Hampton, Georgia, for the Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, February 21, and air at 5 p.m. ET on the CW Network, PRN Radio and SiriusXM.
