DAYTONA – Austin Hill of Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet) won the United Rentals 300 to score his seventh career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory and his third at Daytona. His margin over second-place Sheldon Creed was .591 of a second.
There were nine caution periods for a total of 44 laps. Twenty-two of the 38 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
Hill leaves Daytona as the championship leader with an 11-point advantage over second-place Creed.
Stage 1 Winner: Jesse Love of Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Austin Hill of Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet)
Stewart-Haas Race Finish:
- Riley Herbst (Started 11th, Finished 6th / Running, completed 120 of 120 laps)
- Cole Custer (Started 17th, Finished 13th / Running, completed 120 of 120 laps)
SHR Points:
- Riley Herbst (3rd with 35 points, 24 out of first)
- Cole Custer (9th with 31 points, 28 out of first)
Herbst earned his fifth top-10 in 10 career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Daytona.
Herbst finished seventh in Stage 2 to earn four bonus points. He led twice for eight laps to increase his laps-led total at Daytona to 35.
“You can look at any restart today in the 500 and everybody gives the leader the right, the edge, because that is what they earned as the leader. I did the same thing my whole life, restarting on the front row and allowing the leader to fire first. I saw his nose pick up, and I went off that. We raced for, I think, a whole lap and a half, and then there was a caution and NASCAR called that I laid back to my teammate on the restart,” said Riley Herbst, driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang
Custer earned his fifth top-15 in nine career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Daytona.
Custer finished fourth in Stage 2 to earn seven bonus points. He led once for six laps to increase his laps-led total at Daytona to 16.
“We were leading the line, and somebody hit me in the back, and I got turned in the fence. It’s just a product of everybody pushing and sometimes you get pushed wrong. But before that, I think how the Fords worked together was pretty impressive. That green-flag pit stop was one of the best I’ve ever seen us work together and still keep the lead. It was a good day for the Fords, and they showed great promise. We have to keep it going. I think this superspeedway, you never know what’s going to happen, but we did everything we could all day,” said Cole Custer, driver of the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang.
Next Up:
The next NASCAR Xfinity Series scheduled event is the RAPTOR King of Tough 250 on Saturday, Feb. 24, at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The race begins at 5 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
