Austin Hill emerged victorious yet again at a superspeedway, amid a dramatic turn of events that saw Connor Zilisch wrecked while leading the race. On the final lap, Zilisch found himself in control until an unexpected bump from his friend Jesse Love sent him spinning down the backstretch. Zilisch collided hard with the inside wall, prompting NASCAR to wave the caution flag immediately.
As the caution came out, Hill, who was right on Zilisch’s tail, secured his 13th career NASCAR Xfinity Series win, with eight of those triumphs occurring at drafting tracks. Surprisingly, this was Hill’s first victory at Talladega, coming after he and his Richard Childress Racing teammate, Love, displayed dominance throughout the event.
“Man, we really had to work for that one,” Hill remarked, although he was met with a chorus of boos from the crowd. “It just seemed like our car was really good. Everybody at RCR, ECR engines are bad to the bone like always. But yeah, we had to work for it. I thought the #2 [Love] was really good.”
He added, “I just locked in and started pushing the heck out of the #2 [Love] car. My teammate Jesse, we worked really well together all day for the most part. I was pushing as hard as I possibly could on the top. I knew he was going to have a really good run down the backstretch, and I figured he was going to go left to get the bottom. When he went left, I knew I still had help out back. I see him [Zilisch] spin to the inside and I’m looking left, looking at the light, and I couldn’t tell. I knew it was either me or the #27 [Burton]. Man, to win them any way is always great, and to finally conquer Talladega — that’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time.”
In the aftermath of the caution, there was uncertainty surrounding who officially won the race. NASCAR took the time to carefully review the finish as Hill, Love, and Jeb Burton parked their cars on the frontstretch. Following deliberation, officials declared Hill the winner, with Burton finishing second and Love in third. Justin Allgaier was scored fourth and Matt Dibenedetto rounded out the top five.
Burton later expressed his frustration regarding NASCAR’s decision, believing he had actually crossed the line in first place. Having two prior Xfinity victories at Talladega, this loss was particularly disappointing for him, and tears flowed as he shared, “We don’t have a lot of chances to win.”
Burton indicated that his team might protest the result, or at the very least, seek clarification from NASCAR, hoping to review a better angle of the caution’s triggering moment. The race had initially gone 79 laps without incident, until the first caution for cause. However, the final laps were rife with turbulence, including a multi-car wreck that took Katherine Legge and Jeffrey Earnhardt out of contention.
The implications of this race are significant, raising questions about the outcomes and future strategies for the drivers involved. As the excitement of Talladega subsides, all eyes will now be on how each racer prepares for the upcoming events in the season.
