Austin Hill has been dominant in his appearances at superspeedway in the Xfinity Series winning back to back events at Daytona came into Talladega with nothing short of that dominance by taking the pole over teammate Jesse Love.
As soon as the green flag dropped Hill dominance would come in the form of his 14th straight races he’s led in these types of races. Hill would get help early on from Custer to push him out front taking control of the event while a three wide battle would ensue behind him before falling apart.
Custer would try to pull a small line of cars back to the front for a brief challenge on Hill’s lead in the first stage before falling back and blending into the long line of cars Hill had been pulling around the track.
With the first stage winding down, Love would drop out of line from behind Hill through the tri-oval motoring past Hill just as one to go flag would go in the air for the first stage of the day. Love would clear Hill as the cars began to make their way down the back, Justin Allgaier car would break loose off turn two with slight help from Riley Herbst.
Allgaier’s car would end up spinning to the bottom of the track making hard contact with the inside wall before coming to a stop before dropping his window net and exiting the car.
Stage one would end under caution with Jesse Love taking the opening stage win over Kligerman, A. Hill, C. Smith and AJ Allmendinger.
Stage two would get underway with Love back in control following a penalty by Josh Williams during the caution pit stops sending him to the back. Love lead however wouldn’t last as Hill would take the lead back just three laps later before Custer would take it three wide from the bottom to the top to take the lead.
Ryan Sieg who just last week lost by mere inches to the line at Texas would be next up to take control of the race from Custer. Swapping of the lead would continue through the stage with Chandler Smith and Ryan Truex taking turns at the front of the field before Austin Hill would once again take the lead with two laps remaining in the second stage.
Stage two would come to an end with Austin Hill taking the stage win over Love, AJ Allmendinger, Ryan Sieg and Herbst.
Chaos would erupt when Austin Hill would jump up the track into the path of Sammy Smith to block a high line run stacking up the field as Kligerman would go down the track contacting Brandon Jones turning the No. 9 back up the track into the path of the field to collect 11 cars in total ending the day of Jones, Truex, Clements and Mayer.
Following the caution the race would take a slower more organized pace swapping the lead between Custer, Love and Kligerman before coming within sight of the white flag when Kligerman would get into the back of Austin Hill turning the No. 21 machine to also collect Burton, Anderson and Emerling setting a NASCAR overtime situation.
NASCAR would attempt the first overtime caution of the day with Kligerman being shoved across the line in the lead by Love before getting turned into the wall. Van Gisbergen would also have an issue coming back to green, slowly crossing the line while out of fuel setting up the second attempt of the day for an overtime finish.
Green flag would go back in the air with Love being chased down by Poole who tried to make a last lap, last corner run on the outside but it wouldn’t be enough with Jesse Love Jr. crossing the line first for his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory over Herbst, Alfredo, Honeyman and Poole.
Ryan Sieg who early on in the race would lead on several occasions before a flat tire would take him out of contention in the final stage would battle back to get on the lead lap and pass the remaining Dash 4 Cash cars to take home the $100,000 bonus money.
The Dash 4 Cash returns next week at Dover with Jesse Love, Riley Herbst, Anthony Alfredo and Leland Honeyman the four drivers going for the bonus cash.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series now moves onto Dover Motor Speedway next Saturday, April 27th at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
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