NXS: Dramatic finish unfolds during Xfinity Series season opener

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In: Xfinity Series News

With just five laps remaining in the Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner. 300 at Daytona, the top 15 cars were single file – waiting on one another to make the first move. Twenty minutes later, the ticking time bomb went off, and no one knew who was going into Victory Lane. 

A big crash that had Sam Mayer upside down and sliding down on his roof on the Daytona Superstretch, caused confusion on who was the winner of the race. It was down to either Austin Hill, Justin Allgaier, or John Hunter Nemecheck, who were at a stand still on the front stretch tri-oval to see who would be doing burnouts at the World Center of Racing. After reviewing video of the time of caution to see who was out front, NASCAR ultimately decided that Hill was the victor. 

“I’ve got to tell you all, it was like the longest,” stated Hill in the media center, referring to the standstill at the tri-oval before NASCAR announced the winner. “I don’t know how many minutes we sat there on the tri-oval. That’s the longest I’ve ever sat in a race car. I felt like I was in there for an hour. If you’d had a heart rate monitor on me, it was probably 190, just like beating out of my chest, because I’m like did we do it, did we not, what is going on. It was just such a relief to see that we got it done.”

Hill, who won last year’s Xfinity Series opening race at Daytona, was one of the top favorites throughout the day. From starting on pole and leading 39 of the 125 laps completed, Hill was bound to be in the running at the top of the board. 

Hill’s win in 2022 was also during a wreck involving a flipping car on the Backstretch of Daytona, only that time involving Myatt Snyder. Even though both victories came during a caution, Hill expressed that a win is still a win. “I’d love to win it under green, but I really don’t care how I win it, as long as I’m the one that won the race. It is what it is.”

Austin continued on by saying, “All of us drivers know when the white flag comes out, as soon as caution comes out, it’s over. As soon as the white flag comes out, you’re doing all you can to get to the lead in case you have that wreck that normally does happen down the backstretch or wherever it’s going to happen, and you normally don’t get back to the line a lot of the time.”

The NASCAR Xfinity Series will return to action next Saturday afternoon, when they run at the famous Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Cal. 

Kaleb Vestal
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