AUSTIN HILL IN VICTORY LANE AFTER WINNING THE UNITED RENTALS 250 AT TALLADEGA – MOTORSPORT AMERICA PHOTO
NASCAR Wire Reports – Austin Hill comes to Daytona with the same confident attitude that carried him to three straight season-opening victories from 2022 through 2024-a streak that ended last year because of a rear end gear failure.
The preeminent superspeedway racer in the newly entitled NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, Hill will try for his 11th career drafting track victory in Saturday’s United Auto Rentals 300 at 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway (5 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Hill succeeds at Daytona in part because he enjoys the inevitable close-quarters racing. “I actually have a lot of fun with it,” said Hill, who is embarking on his fifth full-time season in the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. “Everyone talks about pressure and questions if the pressure is going to get to you. But for me, I just go into Daytona weekends with the same mindset that I always do. “We try to run up front, do our thing, stay out of wrecks and hope that it’s enough at the end.”
Hill didn’t win last year’s Daytona opener. RCR teammate Jesse Love did. Love went on to claim the series title at Phoenix Raceway, providing perfect bookends to a season otherwise dominated by rookie phenom Connor Zilisch, who won 10 of his 32 starts. Zilisch has moved on to the NASCAR Cup Series with Trackhouse Racing, to the delight of Love and his fellow championship contenders.
“Obviously there is a lot of want and desire to go back-to-back at Daytona, a lot of want and desire to start the year off with a win and get RCR’s fifth win in a row,” Love said. “Definitely looking forward to it. I’m kind of tired of the offseason. I’m just ready to get back in my swing of things.
“I’m excited, not nervous or anything like that, which is different from past years where I typically feel like I am a little bit nervous to start the season. But now I have my feet under me, I know what to expect and what not to expect and mostly I am a little bit wiser now to understand similar things that can happen that I don’t normally think of.”
Zilisch’s departure also should be a boon for JR Motorsports veteran Justin Allgaier, who won the series championship in 2024. Allgaier is running both the Daytona 500 and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race.
On Wednesday, Allgaier secured a spot in the Daytona 500 starting line up in the No. 40 JRM Chevrolet, one of eight Open cars trying to make the race.