Austin Hill prevails again, continues Daytona domination in thrilling O’Reilly race
It was always going to be Austin Hill, wasn’t it?
The driver of the No. 21 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series car notched his fourth win at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday evening — doing so by leading a field-most 78 laps, sweeping the stages and earning 75 season points for good measure.
That marks 11 drafting-track wins for the Richard Childress Racing driver in the O’Reilly Series — the most in the series by a wide margin.
“I don’t know what it is about Daytona,” Hill told reporters in the media center after the race. He added, “It doesn’t come easy. I know it probably looks easy on TV and stuff at times, but it’s anything but easy to be able to do what we’ve been able to do.”
The ending came in regulation, but it felt like overtime because there were two laps to go after the race’s final caution. And how those final two laps unfolded was a doozy: The long and short of it featured Hill on Turn 4, blocking Justin Allgaier on the outside and then blocking Jordan Anderson on the inside and taking the checkered flag.
Hill explained the ending — and really all of Stage 3 — from his perspective post-race.
“We had that green flag pit stop (in Stage 3), and I was kind of like, after the green flag stop, I don’t know if it was because we packed fuel in it or the front tires were kind of deteriorating — but I just didn’t feel comfortable about my car. I didn’t think it was where I needed it to be to be able to win the race.
“So (crew chief) Chad (Haney) and I, we just made the decision, we’re going to come take 4 and restart. We drove up through there pretty quick within two or three laps, got to second, and then I just personally felt like all night long the inside lane was the safe place to be. The outside lane always seems to kind of get broken up and things just happen on that outside lane. Everyone is kind of trying to screw each other over.
“So I was able to have a good restart, get a good push from out back, and then had to make some big blocks there at the end to make it happen.”
The ending, of course, wasn’t the only thrilling moment.
The race’s (first) Big One arrived on Lap 90 of 120. There was debris. Multiple cars spinning as if they were on their own axles. Eight cars collected in total — prompting not only the fourth incidental caution of the night but even the rare red flag to clear the track and get it racing-ready again.
It happened entering Turn 1, when Jeb Burton unintentionally tapped Ryan Sieg, who then spun and collected essentially the entirety of the back-half of the field. That included Sam Mayer, who was spinning and spinning and even spun up the racetrack; as he was approaching the fence, he got hit hard by Natalie Decker, who had nowhere to go after trying to dodge the carnage by hugging the wall.
To punctuate a curse-laden radio rant after the hit — one that blasted off the front of her car — Decker screamed: “That really hurt!”
That wasn’t the only massive wreck that Daytona International Speedway saw Saturday night. There was another shortly thereafter, in fact. The field went back to green-flag racing on Lap 97 — and by Lap 100, there was another wreck. William Sawalich was the culprit this time, getting loose and collecting another rush of drivers in his wake, including Harrison Burton, Carson Hocevar, Daniel Dye and Rajah Caruth.
There were a few cautions thereafter. The last one was the aforementioned one with five laps left, the one that went green with two left. For a moment it seemed like it was going to be a duel between Hill and Jesse Love — last year’s O’Reilly Series champion (and also a Richard Childress Racing driver) — but Love got lost in the less-organized outside drafting line at the end and finished ninth.
In total, there were 15 lead changes, eight different leaders and seven cautions for 36 laps. The eight leaders were the ones who, at one point or another, showed the capability of winning the race, besides Allgaier, who despite never leading made a strong push at the end and finished P2.
The seven leaders besides Hill: Love (leading 27 laps, finished P9), Mayer (six laps, P31), Anderson (four laps, P4), William Sawalich (two laps, P26), Ryan Ellis (1 lap, P6), Sammy Smith (1 lap, P5) and Rajah Caruth (1 lap, P10, finished with the fastest lap time Saturday).
NASCAR heads to the superspeedway at Atlanta next week, another drafting track. How many wins does Hill have there? Five in total — and has won four of the last six races there, according to DriverAverages.com.
Reactions from drivers after Daytona’s conclusion
Love: “I feel for my guys. They want to be where that 21 group is. I’m still a step behind Austin. He’s so great at this craft. I feel like he’s a little more patient than I am right now, and I think that’s what my learning lesson is after tonight. I think I just wasn’t patient enough when I really needed to be, you know, taking Sammy three wide probably wasn’t the right move there. Made some other moves along the way in waning laps that I could have done about. I’ll look back at it and learn from it, and next week is a similar style of flow of things. I’ll try to take this learning lesson and bring that to Georgia.”
Anderson: “Honestly, their race played to our strategy. We were hanging out in the back the first two stages and kept getting track position and kept working on the car. The car kept getting better, but I don’t get to do this a lot. So as we kept getting closer and closer, I’m like, ‘Alright, it’s go time, it’s go time.’ We kept getting closer. We came off of turn 2 on the backstretch there. I’m, like, ‘Oh, this is it.’ It’s like the Days of Thunder moment. I thought the seas parted, and we had the steam and it just kind of ran out as I got to the 21 (Hill) there. ... This is a testament. Our guys work so hard all year. A lot of long hours. Chevrolet put a lot of effort in this program. ... We’re all happy.”
Allgaier: “Well, if I was a cat, I think I burned all nine of my lives. So maybe this is a cue to go to your local Humane Society and adopt an animal because I think I lived all those nine lives tonight. But really proud of our time at JR Motorsports. Everybody on the 7 team, Andrew Overstreet, new crew chief, you know, coming in here and really leading what was a great night for us. ... These last few laps were wild, but really proud of the effort we gave, the Hendrick engine shop, everyone at Chevrolet, all of our partners. Cool night. O’Reilly Auto Parts, first time in the sport. They’ve made a big push with you guys on the CW, and it’s been fun to watch. I wanted to win, but hats off to Austin Hill and his whole team. We’ll live on to next week and hopefully go get one there.”
This story was originally published February 14, 2026 at 8:28 PM.
