Pit Stops : Atlanta Motor Speedway

• Thursday, February 20th, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain

Georgia native Austin Hill is the one to beat in the Xfinity Series at Atlanta

The NASCAR Xfinity Series is the second half of an exciting racing doubleheader on Saturday with the Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250 (5 p.m. ET on The CW, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at the lightning-fast Atlanta Motor Speedway 1.5-miler.

Austin Hill, who was trying to win an incredible fourth straight February Xfinity Series race last week in the Daytona season-opener, swept the stage wins and led a race best 56 laps only to retire early with engine problems on his No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. His RCR teammate Jesse Love ended up winning the race.

Hill gets another shot at track domination this weekend at Atlanta where the Georgia native is going for his fifth win in the last six races. He swept both race victories last season. In a sort of ironic inversion to last weekend at Daytona, Hill led only the final two overtime laps in last February’s race win at Atlanta while his teammate Love led a dominating 157 of the 169 laps and finished 12th.

With its recent reconfiguration, Atlanta certainly presents itself as another “superspeedway” only 1-mile shorter than Daytona. Judging by the racing last weekend, expect a highly-competitive look again at Atlanta.

Eleven drivers led laps at Daytona from veteran championship favorites such as Hill, Justin Allgaier and Sheldon Creed to talented young drivers such as Love and highly-touted rookie Connor Zilisch, who joins former NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series standouts Christian Eckes, Nick Sanchez and Taylor Gray among the new mix of promising young stars. Harrison Burton, who returns to the NASCAR Xfinity Series after three years in the NASCAR Cup Series ranks is also expected to consistently run up front and challenge for trophies.

Creed takes a nine-point advantage over Love atop the championship standings heading to Atlanta, where Allgaier (2021) and Hill (2022, 2023, 2024) are the only fulltime series drivers with victories.

• Atlanta Motor Speedway
• Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250
• Pole Winner: Jesse Love
• Age: 20
• Team : No 2 - Whelen Chevrolet
• Owner: Richard Childress
• Crew Chief: Danny Stockman, Jr
• Jesse Love won the Pole Award for the Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250 with a lap of 3173 seconds, 174724 mph
• This is his sixth pole in 35 NASCAR Xfinity Series races
• This is his first pole and second top-10 start in 2025
• This is his third pole in three races at Atlanta Motor Speedway
• Austin Hill (second) posted his second top-10 start of 2025 and his sixth in seven races at Atlanta Motor Speedway
• Josh Williams (third) posted his first top-10 start at Atlanta Motor Speedway It is his first in two races this season
• Taylor Gray (sixth) was the fastest qualifying rookie

• Friday, February 21st, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain

Austin Hill dominates Xfinity Series race at Atlanta

The Atlanta Motor Speedway is Austin Hill’s home track after all – and the Georgia native proved again Saturday night that he absolutely “owns it.”

Hill dominated the NASCAR Xfinity Series Bennett Transportation and Logistics 250 on the Atlanta high banks – leading 146 of the 163 laps to claim his first victory of the early 2025 season driving the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet sponsored by the race’s title sponsor.

Hill has won four of the last six Atlanta races – the last three consecutively and five in all – including a sweep of both events last year. And although his laps led total is impressive, he really had to work for this trophy, after losing the lead briefly on a restart with three laps to go.

With a timely tap on Hill’s Chevrolet’s rear bumper from Parker Retzlaff, Hill was able to push forward and take the lead entering the first turn on the final lap. He held on to the win by a slight .216-second having to fend off reigning series champion, JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier and Joe Gibbs Racing’s veteran Aric Almirola – who both previously led at various times on that final restart.

“Thank you to Parker Retzlaff for giving me that push, and then once I got clear and into [turn] one I was just wide open and I was hoping they weren’t going to build up momentum,” Hill said, adding, “To be able to do this is something special.”

Hill’s five Xfinity Series wins at Atlanta ties a record set by former NASCAR Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick. His eight-win total at drafting tracks ties a series record with a pair of NASCAR Hall of Famers, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Stewart.

Hill swept the two stage wins – for the second time in as many races this year giving him a 100 percent mark in 2025.

With his teammate Jesse Love winning the pole position for the race, it gives the RCR team a weekend sweep of pole and race wins for the second time – no other team has won a pole position or hoisted a trophy in 2025. It also marks the 99th Xfinity Series victory for the NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Childress’s team. Hill and Love led all but four laps in the race.

This is Hill’s 11th career win and after holding the point for the vast majority of the race, he ultimately earned it the hard way – a last lap pass.

“He definitely had the dominant car but I thought we might snooker one away,” Almirola said of racing Hill in those final three laps. “But it just wasn’t meant to be.”

JR Motorsports’ Sammy Smith and Big Machine Racing rookie Nick Sanchez rounded out the top-five. A final lap accident on the backstretch created chaos for several of the night’s most consistent top-10 frontrunners.

Jeb Burton, rookie Daniel Dye, Leland Honeyman, rookie William Sawalich and Harrison Burton ultimately rounded out the top-10 at the checkered flag. Kaulig Racing rookie Christian Eckes earned the Fastest Lap Bonus point.

With the victory, Hill takes a 1-point lead over Haas Factory Team driver Sheldon Creed, who was eliminated from a top-10 finish in that multi-car accident on the last lap and scored 14th. Hill’s teammate, last week’s Daytona winner Love, finished 16th.

• Drivers Entered: 38
• Laps Scheduled: 163
• Margin of Victory: 0.216 Seconds
• Time of Race: 2 Hours 21 Minutes 18 Seconds
• Average Speed: 106.590
• Cautions: 8 for 49 laps
• Lead Changes: 11
• Green Flag Passes: 2,462 (21.6 passes per green flag lap)

• Atlanta Motor Speedway
• Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250
• Race Winner: Austin Hill
• Age: 30
• Team : No 21 - Bennett Transportation Chevrolet
• Owner: Richard Childress
• Crew Chief: Chad Haney
• Austin Hill won the Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250, his 11th victory in 116 Xfinity Series races
• This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in 2025
• This is his fifth victory and sixth top-10 finish in seven races at Atlanta Motor Speedway
• Justin Allgaier (second) posted his 10th top-10 finish in 19 races at Atlanta Motor Speedway It is his first top-10 finish in 2025
• Aric Almirola (third) posted his second top-10 finish in four races at Atlanta Motor Speedway
• Nick Sanchez (fifth) was the highest finishing rookie
• Austin Hill leads the point standings by 1 points over Sheldon Creed