Austin Hill had the dominant car early, but it was Richard Childress Racing teammate Jesse Love who prevailed Saturday night (Feb. 15) in the NASCAR Xfinity Series’ season opener at Daytona International Speedway.
Love dominated the closing laps to give Richard Childress Racing its fourth straight United Rentals 300 win, clinching the victory as a crash ended the race under caution in the first overtime. It was the final chapter of a wild finish where he held off a snarling pack of cars behind him.
Multiple cars collected coming to the line, and @jesselovejr1 wins! pic.twitter.com/n1GRq8EmeF
— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) February 16, 2025
“I’m out of breath,” Love told The CW. “Just want to thank the good Lord above for putting me in this position.
“So many people have helped me get to this point. Billy Venturini, Shane Rush, the people that taught me how to race here at Daytona, thank you guys.”
Love led 30 of the race’s 126 laps, including the final 18. He was out front and took the white flag when the Big One at the start/finish line brought out a caution and ended the race. The win was his second in the Xfinity Series and second on a superspeedway after winning at Talladega Superspeedway last April.
Finishing second and third were Sam Mayer and Sheldon Creed, respectively, in their debut starts with Haas Factory Team. Rookie Carson Kvapil rebounded from damage in two earlier incidents to take fourth, while fellow rookie Taylor Gray scored a top five in fifth.
Harrison Burton finished sixth in his debut for AM Racing, while Jordan Anderson crossed the line in seventh. Rookie Dean Thompson finished eighth, Jeremy Clements finished ninth and Patrick Emerling recorded his first-ever Xfinity top 10 in 10th.
The 2025 Xfinity season started the same way 2024 ended, as defending series champion Justin Allgaier started on pole after qualifying was rained out. He led five of the first 11 laps before passing the lead to Hill, the three-time defending winner of this race.
Hill was hungry for four in a row, and he had a car more than capable of pulling it off. He swept both stages and led 56 of the first 79 laps; it looked like the only way he would lose was if his car broke down on him.
Unfortunately for him, that’s exactly what happened.
Meanwhile, @_AustinHill takes the No. 21 behind the wall. pic.twitter.com/IUQvsW4tFX
— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) February 15, 2025
After several reports the rear end of the No. 21 car was leaking fluid, Hill hit pit road on lap 82 as the team unsuccessfully attempted to resolve the issue. Hill pulled the No. 21 car behind the wall shortly after, and his quest for four straight ended with a 33rd-place finish in the garage.
With the dominant car out of the picture, the race for the win was wide open. Love took advantage of the opportunity, making his way to the point on lap 95 and kept himself in the mix for the remainder of the night.
The final 25 laps were largely a battle between the JR Motorsports cars on the inside line and the Haas Fords of Creed and Mayer on the outside line. Neither could make progress on the No. 2 car while the laps ticked down, as Love blocked their advances with ease and retained control of the race after two late multi-car crashes forced an overtime finish.
In overtime, Love restarted on the outside lane and immediately ducked to the inside, just barely clearing himself in front of Mayer to keep the lead and enter turn 1 with a full head of steam.
Multiple cars collected coming to the line, and @jesselovejr1 wins! pic.twitter.com/n1GRq8EmeF
— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) February 16, 2025
As the field entered the trioval to take the white flag, he was clearly ahead when Allgaier spun off the nose of Anderson and triggered a multi-car wreck. That was all Love needed to see, coasting to the win and the all-but-automatic playoff spot that comes with it.
United Rentals 300 Results
The Xfinity Series next heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway for their second straight superspeedway race on Saturday, Feb. 22 at 5 p.m. ET. The CW will provide coverage of the race.
Stephen Stumpf is the NASCAR Content Director for Frontstretch and is a three-year veteran of the site. His weekly column is “Stat Sheet,” and he formerly wrote "4 Burning Questions" for three years. He also writes commentaries, contributes to podcasts, edits articles and is frequently at the track for on-site coverage.
Can find on Twitter @stephen_stumpf.
If there’s one thing that’s consistent in NASCAR, it’s their inconsistency. Thursday night Erik Jones was deprived of a win when the yellow was thrown just short of the checkered flag. Tonight in an almost identical situation Love was allowed to take the flag before the yellow was thrown?