Austin Hill Unstoppable in Dominant Daytona NASCAR O’Reilly Victory

Austin Hill now has 15 wins in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, including an astonishing eleven at draft tracks, including four at Daytona. He dominated the 2026 season opener, once again giving Richard Childress Racing the checkered flag.

“I love these guys, man,” Hill said in Victory Lane. “Everyone that’s been at Chevrolet, everyone at RCR, ECR, everyone that makes this possible. There’s a lot of other sponsors that I’m not talking about right now, but… yeah, you know, for me, when we got going again after the fuel stop, I kept getting really tight in turn four and I was really loosening up, and I’m like, man, if it ends at the end of this thing and I’m pushed hard, I don’t think I’m going to win the race. I think I’m going to end up wrecked. And that’s what I like about this team. They believe in me, I believe in them.

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“My crew chief in the pit, he was like, man, it’s a really tough decision to go from third place to 14th place or whatever when we restarted. But it shows how good this team is. We had that restart, nobody was going to the middle, and I’m like, sure, I’ll take it.”

Winner Austin Hill, #21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

In the last round, Brennan Poole was second but was knocked off the line just as he attempted to make a pass for the lead. Hill later defended the accusations of Justin Allgaier And Jordan Anderson to secure victory in his No. 21 Chevrolet.

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Speaking at the end, Hill added: “I drove up there, and then I wanted to work with my teammate there at the end, Jesse (Love), but I just knew the bottom was going to skyrocket, or it felt like it was. The top lane is always disorganized, and they move around a lot, and everyone is trying to screw everyone over. So I just thought the bottom lane was probably the best thing for me.

“I thought I missed my white flag lap in Turn 2. I went wide. And luckily I was able to make the block on the 7 (Allgaier), and I almost missed the block on the blue car (Anderson). I almost missed that block, and right when I went down, he gave me a chance. I had to save the car. And then after that, it was just hammering and I was just hoping they wouldn’t answer me. Daytona has been so good to me I love this place, and it’s always fun to win and always fun to be here in Victory Line talking to you.”

At the checkered flag, Allgaier finished second, Ryan Sieg third, Anderson fourth and Sammy Smith fifth. Ryan Ellis, Carson Kvapil, Blaine Perkinslove, and Rajah Caruth filled out the rest of the top ten.

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Steps 1 and 2

It was a rocky start to the 2026 season opener, as a pileup led to a multi-car crash before the field even fully took the green flag.

Several drivers were damaged, including Brennan Poole, Patrick Emerling, Jérémy ClementsMason Maggio, Luke Fenhaus and Antoine Alfredoof which the nightmare week continues. After racing until the Daytona 500, he was removed from the field for failing post-race inspection. He was then DNQ for the NOAPS race and had to make a deal to drive another team’s car, only to then also suffer damage at the start.

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As the race continued, there was a difficult moment for Ryan Sieg, who cut a tire while in the middle of the pack. He managed to return to the pits, avoiding an incident.

Corey Day, who is competing full-time with Hendrick this year, took a wild ride at the end of Stage 1, barely touching the wall.

The race remained green, but not for long as a multi-car accident occurred during the race to the green/white checkered flag. Sammy Smith spun, collecting the Haas duo from Sam Mayer And Sheldon CredoNick Sanchez and the ARCA Daytona winner Gio Ruggiero.

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Read also:

ARCA Daytona decided by controversial crash and one-lap shootout

Hill won Stage 1 behind the pace car, followed by Kvapil, Allgaier, Perkins, Sawalich, Clements, Jones, Caruth and Tay. Gray.

During the break, there was a strange incident: Fenhaus’ hood completely flew off his damaged car.

Stage 2 was more of the same as Hill and RCR teammate Love dominated the peloton. There was another moment where Allgaier aggressively moved out of the way, actually hitting Hill’s gates.

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In a repeat of Stage 1, Day almost spun again exiting Turn 4, but this time the dirt racer managed to hang on.

Hill then swept the stages, followed by Kvapil, Allgaier, Sawalich, Caruth, Retzlaff, S. Smith, Clements, J. Burton and Perkins.

Step 3

In the final stage, the race saw its first and only series of green flag pit stops, which Hill and the RCR fielded cars initiated with 40 laps remaining. After the pit cycle, the ECR-powered cars regained control of the race with Love in the lead.

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However, the major incident was about to happen when Jeb Burton hit Ryan Sieg, sending him spinning into the middle of the pack. Justin Allgaier, Taylor Gray, Sam Mayer, Jeremy Clements and Natalie Decker were among those collected.

NASCAR signaled the race while cleaning up all debris from this wreck, leaving 29 laps remaining in the race.

When the race returned to yellow flag conditions, Hill started from third place for four fresh tires. He leaves 12th with 24 laps to go. Hill quickly charged through the pack, getting behind Love and putting RCR up 1-2 again.

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With 20 laps to go, Sawalich was spun entering Turn 3 and many cars were destroyed. Day, Tay Gray, H Burton, J. Burton, Hocevar, Staropoli, K. Sieg, Caruth and Williams were among those involved in this accident.