Hill Breaks Hearts on Valentine’s Day

KELSEY CHRISTMAN - STAFF WRITER

Austin Hill Dominated From Pole to Checkered (Patrick McDermott, Getty Images, Daytona, 2026)

O’Reilly Auto Parts made its debut on Saturday night in Daytona as the series sponsor of what was formerly the Xfinity Series. This marked the beginning of a multi-year deal between the sponsor and NASCAR.

Anthony Alfredo’s unfortunate luck during Speedweek continued. After his entry for Sunday’s Daytona 500 was disqualified during post-race inspection after Thursday’s Duels, Alfredo failed to qualify for Saturday night’s race, delaying his debut with Viking Motorsports. Meanwhile, Alpha Prime Racing and Caesar Bacarella agreed to a driver change for the No. 4 Chevrolet for Alfredo to earn driver points. 

Chaos erupted immediately after the green flag as the bottom row led by reigning champion, Jesse Love, stacked before the field could pass the start line and sent Brennan Poole and Jeremy Clements spinning. Mason Maggio suffered race-ending damage to his front end that ended his day before the first lap was completed.

Numerous cautions, a red flag, and an overtime finish could not slow down Austin Hill as he claimed both stage wins and the final checkered flag of the race. Hill defended his position against teammate Jesse Love along with Brennan Poole, Justin Allgaier, Sammy Smith, and Jordan Anderson for his fourth career win at the superspeedway. 

Richard Childress Racing extended its streak of season-opening race victories to five consecutive years. Austin Hill proved why he is the one to beat on superspeedways, while Love secured a top-ten finish and led the second-most laps behind his teammate.