By David Morgan, Associate Editor
TALLADEGA, Ala. – Austin Hill pulled off the NASCAR Xfinity Series season sweep at Talladega Superspeedway, winning Saturday’s United Rentals 250 to move his No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet forward in the Owner’s Championship.
The win is the fourth of the season for Hill and his 14th overall in the Xfinity Series dating back to 2022.
“Man, I can’t thank all these guys enough though on this 21 team. This Bennett Chevrolet was as fast as Xfinity Mobile all day. Everybody at RCR, ECR engines are so strong every time we come here. I wouldn’t want to have anything else under the hood,” said Hill.
“With how the last part of my season has went, with everything that’s went on and getting knocked out of the Playoffs, I knew I was still in the Owner’s Championship. That’s one thing I want to do for that man right there, Richard Childress is get him an owner’s championship. If I can’t get the driver’s, we have to at least get the owner’s.
“So special. Always fun to be on these superspeedways and win here at Talladega back-to-back, that’s something really cool.”
The race would be pushed to overtime, with the drivers racing the fading daylight and fuel tanks running dry in the closing laps. Hill was among those that gambled on being able to have enough fuel to go the distance, with others, like runner-up finisher Carson Kvapil electing to pit before the overtime restart to take on fuel.
Kvapil would charge from outside the top-10, using the outside lane to his advantage, surging forward in the pack and using a boost from his JR Motorsports teammate and defending series champion Justin Allgaier to make a run at Hill, but would fall one spot short of locking up his place in the season finale.
Nonetheless, it was a good day for the No. 1 team, flipping the script in the points standings as he entered the day 22-points down to now sitting in the final transfer spot with an 11-point advantage over another of his JRM teammates in Sammy Smith heading to Martinsville.
“Just kind of worked out in our fortune that we were able to be the ones to get pushed up and the 7 car (Allgaier) really took care of us there coming off (Turn) 4. He played really good teammate there and tried to push me by the 16 and then tried to give me by the 21 but still wasn’t enough there at the end,” said Kvapil.
Kvapil added that he was confident in being able to hold onto the final transfer spot next weekend at Martinsville, where he finished fourth last fall in his Xfinity Series debut.
“I’m very confident. I feel really happy about Martinsville. It’s my bread and butter I guess you could say. My first race was at Martinsville, finished fourth. In the spring race, I felt like we had a race winning car and we would come back through the field and got turned around, so I’m excited.
“Obviously I’d rather be locked in on the screen over there than plus 11, but from being minus 22 going into the weekend to plus 11, I’m a lot happier with it. All it takes is one of the other guys to win the race and we’re knocked out, but the most we can do is just try as hard as we can to maximize the day. Same thing. Try to get points and try to set ourselves up for the end of the race.
Allgaier finished the day in third place, securing his place at Phoenix as he will look to send departing crew chief Jim Pohlman out on a high note with back-to-back championships, followed by Christian Eckes and Caesar Bacarella to round out the top-five finishers.
The remainder of the top-10 went to Blaine Perkins, Parker Retzlaff, Leland Honeyman, Smith, and Jesse Love.
Points leader Connor Zilisch finished the day in 23rd place, three laps down, after getting involved in a crash on Lap 45.
The finish was the worst for Zilisch since the Talladega race in the spring, which saw him crash out on the final lap and miss the following race with a back injury – a streak of 18 straight races with top-five finishes.
Nonetheless, the massive points advantage that Zilisch carried into the weekend was enough to secure his place in the Championship 4, joining Allgaier and giving JRM two of the four spots in the finale.
Behind Zilisch and Allgaier already locked in, Jesse Love leaves Talladega at +40 over the cut-off, followed by Kvapil at +11.
Smith is the first car on the outside looking in, followed by Brandon Jones at -20, Sam Mayer at -22, and Sheldon Creed bringing up the rear at -41.
The race would see three multi-car crashes, two of which would bring out a red flag stoppage.
A crash on Lap 15 brought out the first red flag of the day in a crash that swept up the Haas Factory Team duo of Mayer and Creed, along with the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Jones, putting all three in a must-win position next weekend at Martinsville.
The 16 minute, 20 second stoppage for SAFER barrier repair in the tri-oval would involve a total of 10 cars.
Stage Two would see a six-car crash in Turn 1 on Lap 45 – the same crash that involved Zilisch – leading to a stoppage of 10 minutes and 35 seconds.
William Sawalich was one of the six involved and was sent to a local hospital for further evaluation after his visit to the Infield Care Center.
The final caution of the day broke out on the backstretch on Lap 94, leading to vicious hits for both Aric Almirola and Daniel Dye in the outside and inside SAFER barrier. Both drivers would be evaluated and released from the care center a short time later.
Next weekend’s Round of 8 finale at Martinsville will kick off at 7:30 pm ET on The CW.
