Race Results : Daytona International Speedway

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  • Saturday, February 15th, 2025
  • NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain
Jesse Love wins Xfinity Series season-opener at Daytona

In a typically wild finish at Daytona International Speedway, Jesse Love won the United Rentals 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series season-opener in overtime – taking the white flag moments before a massive multi-car accident behind him brought out a caution officially ending the race.

An out-of-breath Love emerged from his No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet’s roof hatch on the Daytona International Speedway infield grass to the cheers of his team celebrating the 20-year old Californian’s second career win.

“So many people have helped me get to this point,” said Love, who led three times for 30 laps on the evening.

“Not sure what happened to the 21 (his teammate Austin Hill) tonight, but he was really dominant tonight,” Love continued. “We’re working on changing our culture here at RCR. We’re winners, we know we are and we really want to win a championship for Richard Childress. I’m ready to go to [the next race at] Atlanta now.”

Love put his Chevrolet out front on the final three re-starts, exchanging the point briefly with Haas Factory Team’s Sheldon Creed before taking the position for good with 18 laps remaining and ultimately holding off the Haas drivers Sam Mayer and Creed. Rookies Carson Kvapil and Taylor Gray were just behind rounding out the top-five.

As Love indicated, for most of the early race, it looked as if his teammate, three-time defending race winner Hill was going to turn in an incredible fourth straight win in the season-opener. He won both Stage 1 and 2 and led 56 of the opening 82 laps – the most laps out front on the night. Together Love and Hill led all but 40 of the race’s 126 laps

Hill’s No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, however, had engine issues shortly after the second stage break – Hill reporting smoke inside his cockpit and other drivers saying his car was leaking fluid out the back.

Although Hill stayed out front, he pit with a handful of other Chevrolets on Lap 80 and when the RCR team checked under the hood, it was apparent the issue was terminal.

The team declared the car done, reiterating to their driver it wasn’t “for lack of effort” on the night.

“Such a bummer, we had such a fast Chevrolet,” Hill said after parking his car in the garage. “Everybody at RCR and ECR did a great job building this race car. We showed we were the dominant team again getting the stage wins there. I just wish that we could have lost this race on our terms, not from a mechanical failure.

“I’d almost rather get turned on the backstretch on the white flag lap and end up on my lid than have it end like this. This one is going to sting a little bit, but we have Atlanta next week and I feel like we’re going to be good all year long in 2025. I feel really good about this team.”

The two rookies who finished inside the top-five were indicative of a strong showing for the large first-year class. Several were eliminated while running inside the top-10 on track – from Daniel Dye in the race’s opening accident to highly-touted series newcomers Connor Zilisch, William Sawalich and Christian Eckes who were all collected in an accident with three laps remaining in regulation – all running in the top-10 at the time.

Last summer’s NASCAR Cup Series Daytona race winner Harrison Burton finished sixth in his return to fulltime NASCAR Xfinity Series racing. Jordan Anderson, Dean Thompson, Jeremy Clements and Patrick Emerling rounded out the top-10 in a race that saw 11 different leaders and 24 lead change on the 2.5-mile Daytona high banks.

Clements set the Xfinity Fastest Lap of the race earning a bonus point. Creed takes a nine-point lead over Love atop the early championship standings.

  • Drivers Entered: 41 (3 drivers will not make the race)
  • Laps Scheduled: 120
  • Laps Actual: 126 - NASCAR OVERTIME!
  • Margin of Victory: Under Caution Seconds
  • Time of Race: 2 Hours 33 Minutes 17 Seconds
  • Average Speed: 123.301
  • Cautions: 8 for 39 laps
  • Lead Changes: 24
  • Green Flag Passes: 4,378 (50.3 passes per green flag lap)

  • Daytona International Speedway
  • United Rentals 300
  • Race Winner: Jesse Love
  • Age: 20
  • Team : No 2 - Whelen Chevrolet
  • Owner: Richard Childress
  • Crew Chief: Danny Stockman, Jr
  • Jesse Love won the United Rentals 300, his second victory in 34 Xfinity Series races
  • This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in 2025
  • This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in three races at Daytona International Speedway Love is the 39th different Xfinity driver to win at Daytona
  • Sam Mayer (second) posted his first top-10 finish in eight races at Daytona International Speedway It is his first top-10 finish in 2025
  • Sheldon Creed (third) posted his fifth top-10 finish in eight races at Daytona International Speedway
  • Carson Kvapil (fourth) was the highest finishing rookie
  • Sheldon Creed leads the point standings by 9 points over Jesse Love
  • This is the 98th Xfinity Series win for Richard Childress Racing and 10th at Daytona
Jesse Love celebrates after winning
Daytona Beach, Florida - February 15, 2025 : Jesse Love, driver of the #2 Whelen Chevrolet celebrates after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series United Rentals 300 at Daytona International Speedway.
Jared C TiltonGetty Images
United Rentals 300 at Daytona International Speedway results
FIN ST # DRIVER MAKE TOT PTS FIN PTS STG PTS PO PTS LAPS LED X LED S1 S2 STATUS
1 9 2 Jesse Love Chevrolet 47 40 2 5 126 30 3 9 0 Running
2 8 41 Sam Mayer Ford 35 35 0 0 126 0 0 0 0 Running
3 6 00 Sheldon Creed Ford 51 34 17 0 126 7 3 2 3 Running
4 10 1 Carson Kvapil Chevrolet 33 33 0 0 126 0 0 0 0 Running
5 2 54 Taylor Gray Toyota 37 32 5 0 126 1 1 10 7 Running
6 32 25 Harrison Burton Ford 32 31 1 0 126 1 1 0 10 Running
7 38 32 Jordan Anderson Chevrolet 30 30 0 0 126 0 0 0 0 Running
8 19 26 Dean Thompson Toyota 38 29 9 0 126 0 0 8 5 Running
9 25 51 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 29 29 0 0 126 0 0 0 0 Running
10 35 07 Patrick Emerling Chevrolet 27 27 0 0 126 0 0 0 0 Running
11 30 99 Matt DiBenedetto Chevrolet 26 26 0 0 126 0 0 0 0 Running
12 3 16 Christian Eckes Chevrolet 25 25 0 0 126 0 0 0 0 Running
13 36 45 Caesar Bacarella Chevrolet 24 24 0 0 126 4 1 0 0 Running
14 29 91 Josh Bilicki Chevrolet 23 23 0 0 126 0 0 0 0 Running
15 37 53 Joey Gase Chevrolet 22 22 0 0 126 0 0 0 0 Running
16 22 27 Jeb Burton Chevrolet 33 21 12 0 126 4 1 4 6 Running
17 33 24 Ryan Truex Toyota 20 20 0 0 126 0 0 0 0 Running
18 1 7 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 30 19 11 0 126 11 5 7 4 Running
19 14 39 Ryan Sieg Ford 27 18 9 0 125 10 3 0 2 Accident
20 21 11 Josh Williams Chevrolet 17 17 0 0 125 0 0 0 0 Accident
21 34 70 Leland Honeyman Jr Chevrolet 21 16 5 0 125 0 0 6 0 Accident
22 27 42 Anthony Alfredo Chevrolet 23 15 8 0 125 0 0 5 9 Accident
23 24 71 Ryan Ellis Chevrolet 14 14 0 0 125 0 0 0 0 Running
24 13 8 Sammy Smith Chevrolet 13 13 0 0 125 1 1 0 0 Running
25 15 19 Justin Bonsignore Toyota 12 12 0 0 123 0 0 0 0 Running
26 16 35 Greg Van Alst Chevrolet 11 11 0 0 120 0 0 0 0 Accident
27 20 88 Connor Zilisch Chevrolet 10 10 0 0 118 1 1 0 0 Accident
28 5 18 William Sawalich Toyota 12 9 3 0 118 0 0 0 8 Accident
29 28 4 Parker Retzlaff Chevrolet 8 8 0 0 118 0 0 0 0 Accident
30 18 44 Brennan Poole Chevrolet 7 7 0 0 105 0 0 0 0 Running
31 31 14 Garrett Smithley Chevrolet 6 6 0 0 95 0 0 0 0 Electrical
32 17 5 Kris Wright Chevrolet 5 5 0 0 86 0 0 0 0 Accident
33 4 21 Austin Hill Chevrolet 26 4 20 2 82 56 5 1 1 Rear End
34 26 31 Blaine Perkins Chevrolet 3 3 0 0 79 0 0 0 0 Power Steer
35 11 48 Nicholas Sanchez Chevrolet 10 2 8 0 59 0 0 3 0 Accident
36 23 28 Kyle Sieg Ford 1 1 0 0 22 0 0 0 0 Rear End
37 7 20 Brandon Jones Toyota 1 1 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 Accident
38 12 10 Daniel Dye Chevrolet 1 1 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 Accident

Race Infractions

Penalties imposed prior to or during the race.

Driver Infraction Penalty Lap Lap Assessed Flag
Parker Retzlaff Pre-Race to the Rear Transmission Change Tail End 0 0 White
Ryan Truex Pre-Race to the Rear Unapproved Adjustments Tail End 0 0 White
Anthony Alfredo Pre-Race to the Rear Unapproved Adjustments Tail End 0 0 White
Harrison Burton Pitting before pit road is open Tail End 6 11 Yellow
Brennan Poole Pitting before pit road is open Tail End 6 11 Yellow
Carson Kvapil Pitting before pit road is open Tail End 6 11 Yellow
Garrett Smithley Pitting before pit road is open Tail End 6 11 Yellow
Connor Zilisch Pitting before pit road is open Tail End 6 11 Yellow
Greg Van Alst Speeding on pit road Tail End 9 11 Yellow
Brennan Poole Pitting before pit road is open Tail End 20 25 Yellow
Jeremy Clements Crewmember(s) over the wall too soon Tail End 23 25 Yellow
Christian Eckes Pitting before pit road is open Tail End 32 36 Yellow
Christian Eckes Too many crewmember(s) in contact with pit service area Tail End 32 36 Yellow
Nicholas Sanchez Pitting before pit road is open Garage Tail End 59 0 Yellow
Christian Eckes Pitting before pit road is open Tail End 61 65 Yellow
Christian Eckes Too many crewmember(s) in contact with pit service area Tail End 61 65 Yellow
Leland Honeyman Jr Speeding on pit road Pass Thru 81 82 Green
Garrett Smithley Unspecified Vehicle Interference Pass Thru 82 86 Green
Austin Hill Pitting before pit road is open Garage Tail End 88 0 Yellow
Ryan Truex Pitting before pit road is open Tail End 89 95 Yellow
Patrick Emerling Pitting before pit road is open Tail End 91 95 Yellow
Brennan Poole Going above the blend line exiting the pits Pass Thru 107 108 Green
Sammy Smith Pitting before pit road is open Tail End 113 117 Yellow
Justin Bonsignore Pitting before pit road is open Tail End 113 117 Yellow
Anthony Alfredo Pitting before pit road is open Tail End 113 117 Yellow
Christian Eckes Pitting before pit road is open Tail End 119 124 Yellow
Greg Van Alst Pitting before pit road is open Garage Tail End 119 0 Yellow
Josh Bilicki Pitting before pit road is open Tail End 120 124 Yellow
Justin Bonsignore Pitting before pit road is open Tail End 120 124 Yellow
Justin Bonsignore Too many crewmember(s) in contact with pit service area Tail End 120 124 Yellow
Ryan Ellis Pitting before pit road is open Tail End 120 124 Yellow