now has 15 wins within the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Components Collection, which incorporates an astonishing eleven on drafting tracks, with 4 of these coming at Daytona. He dominated the 2026 season-opener, delivering Richard Childress Racing the checkered flag as soon as once more.
“I really like these guys, man,” mentioned Hill in Victory Lane. “Everyone that is been at Chevrolet, all people at RCR, ECR, everybody that makes this doable. There’s plenty of different sponsors that I am not speaking about proper now, however … yeah, you understand, for me, once we went again out after the gas cease, I simply saved getting actually tight off of [turn] 4 and I might get actually unfastened, and I am like, man, if it comes all the way down to the top of this factor and I am getting pushed exhausting, I do not suppose I will win the race. I believe I will find yourself wrecked. And that is what I really like about this workforce. They imagine in me, I imagine in them.
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“My crew chief on the field, he was like, man, it is a actually powerful determination to go from being in third to return to 14th or no matter it was once we restarted. However it simply goes to point out how good this workforce is. We had that restart, no person was going center, and I am like, certain, I will take it.”
Winner Austin Hill, No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
Winner Austin Hill, No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
On the ultimate lap, was operating second however received shuffled out of line simply as he tried to make a cross for the lead. Hill then defended fees from and to safe the victory in his No. 21 Chevrolet.
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Talking on the end, Hill added: “Drove proper up by way of there, after which I wished to work with my teammate there on the finish, Jesse [Love], however I simply knew that the underside was going to surge, or I felt prefer it was. The highest lane all the time will get discombobulated, and so they transfer round quite a bit, and everybody’s making an attempt to screw all people over. So I simply thought the underside lane was most likely the perfect factor for me.
“Thought I tousled on my white flag lap off of (Flip) 2. I received manner out. And fortuitously I used to be in a position to make the block on the 7 [ Allgaier], and I virtually missed the block on whoever the blue automotive was [Anderson]. I virtually missed this block, and proper after I received down, he gave me a shot. I needed to save the automotive. After which after that, it was simply hammer down and simply hoping that they would not get again to me. Daytona’s been so good to me. I really like this place, and it is all the time enjoyable to win and all the time enjoyable to be right here in Victory Line speaking to you.”
On the checkered flag, Allgaier completed second, third, Anderson fourth, and fifth. , , , Love, and crammed out the rest of the highest ten.
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Levels 1 and a pair of
It was a rocky begin to the 2026 season-opener as a stack-up resulted in a multi-car crash earlier than the sphere even absolutely took the inexperienced flag.
A number of drivers sustained injury, together with Brennan Poole, , , Mason Maggio, Luke Fenhaus and , whose . After racing his manner into the Daytona 500, he was faraway from the sphere for failing post-race inspection. He then DNQed for the NOAPS race and needed to reduce a deal to drive one other workforce’s automotive, solely to undergo injury firstly as properly.
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Because the race continued, there was a sketchy second for Ryan Sieg, who reduce a tire whereas in the course of the sphere. He managed to get again to the pits, avoiding an incident.
Corey Day, who’s competing full-time with Hendrick this 12 months, went for a wild spin on the finish of Stage 1, barely touching the wall.
The race stayed inexperienced, however not for lengthy as a multi-car wreck broke out within the run to the inexperienced/white checkered flag. Sammy Smith spun, gathering the Haas duo of and , Nick Sanchez, and ARCA Daytona winner .
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Hill gained Stage 1 behind the tempo automotive, adopted by Kvapil, Allgaier, Perkins, Sawalich, Clements, Jones, Caruth, and Tay. Grey.
In the course of the break, there was an odd incident as Fenhaus’s hood flew utterly off his broken automotive.
In Stage 2, it was a lot of the identical as Hill and RCR teammate Love dominated the pack. There was one other second as Allgaier aggressively side-drafting, really touching doorways with Hill.
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In a repeat of Stage 1, Day virtually spun once more on the exit of Flip 4, however this time, the grime racer managed to hold onto it.
Hill went on to brush the levels, adopted by Kvapil, Allgaier, Sawalich, Caruth, Retzlaff, S. Smith, Clements, J. Burton, and Perkins.
Stage 3
Within the closing stage, the race noticed its first and solely spherical of green-flag pit stops, which Hill and the RCR-aligned automobiles kicked off with 40 laps to go. After the pit cycle, the ECR-powered automobiles reclaimed management of the race with Love main.
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Nevertheless, the key incident was about to unfold as Jeb Burton touched Ryan Sieg, sending him spinning mid-pack. Justin Allgaier, Taylor Grey, Sam Mayer, Jeremy Clements, and had been amongst these collected.
NASCAR red-flagged the race whereas cleansing up all of the particles from that wreck, leaving 29 laps to go within the race.
When the race received again to yellow-flag circumstances, Hill pitted from third for 4 contemporary tires. He restarted twelfth with 24 laps to go. Hill shortly charged by way of the pack, pulling up behind Love and placing RCR 1-2 once more.
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With 20 laps to go, Sawalich received turned coming into Flip 3, and plenty of automobiles had been torn up. Day, Tay Grey, H Burton, J. Burton, Hocevar, Staropoli, Okay. Sieg, Caruth, and Williams had been amongst these concerned in that crash.
Racing resumed with 13 laps to go, however it did not final lengthy as Jeb Burton spewed particles all around the observe. They tried it once more with eight laps left. Hill was in command, however the run did not final lengthy as Hocevar and Caruth wrecked on the backstretch.
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On the ultimate restart, the skin line fell aside and Love vanished again into the pack. Hill held off assaults from Poole, Allgaier, and Anderson to win the season-opener.
2026 Daytona NOAPS Outcomes
1
21
Austin Hill
Chevrolet
120
2:34’20.619
78
2
7
Justin Allgaier
Chevrolet
120
2:34’20.700
0.081
3
39
Ryan Sieg
Chevrolet
120
2:34’20.859
0.240
4
32
Jordan Anderson
Chevrolet
120
2:34’20.863
0.244
4
5
8
Sammy Smith
Chevrolet
120
2:34’21.065
0.446
1
6
02
Ryan Ellis
Chevrolet
120
2:34’21.070
0.451
1
7
1
Carson Kvapil
Chevrolet
120
2:34’21.110
0.491
8
31
Blaine Perkins
Chevrolet
120
2:34’21.135
0.516
9
2
Jesse Love
Chevrolet
120
2:34’21.166
0.547
27
10
88
Rajah Caruth
Chevrolet
120
2:34’21.202
0.583
1
11
4
Anthony Alfredo
Chevrolet
120
2:34’21.228
0.609
12
44
Brennan Poole
Chevrolet
120
2:34’21.232
0.613
13
38
Patrick Emerling
Chevrolet
120
2:34’21.316
0.697
14
99
Parker Retzlaff
Chevrolet
120
2:34’21.333
0.714
15
28
Kyle Sieg
Chevrolet
120
2:34’21.379
0.760
16
45
Lavar Scott
Chevrolet
120
2:34’21.423
0.804
17
07
Josh Bilicki
Chevrolet
120
2:34’21.470
0.851
18
48
Patrick Staropoli
Chevrolet
120
2:34’21.513
0.894
19
30
Carson Ware
Chevrolet
120
2:34’25.888
5.269
20
42
Carson Hocevar
Chevrolet
120
2:34’26.252
5.633
21
52
Daniel Dye
Ford
120
2:34’29.129
8.510
22
87
Austin Inexperienced
Chevrolet
118
2:34’23.624
2 Laps
23
5
Luke Fenhaus
Ford
117
2:34’39.397
3 Laps
24
00
Sheldon Creed
Chevrolet
116
2:34’43.121
4 Laps
25
27
Jeb Burton
Chevrolet
107
2:16’57.713
13 Laps
26
18
William Sawalich
Toyota
99
1:57’05.000
21 Laps
2
27
17
Corey Day
Chevrolet
99
1:57’05.061
21 Laps
28
54
Taylor Grey
Toyota
99
1:57’05.146
21 Laps
29
24
Harrison Burton
Toyota
98
1:57’05.228
22 Laps
30
20
Brandon Jones
Toyota
92
1:43’45.624
28 Laps
31
41
Sam Mayer
Chevrolet
91
1:41’03.153
29 Laps
6
32
51
Jeremy Clements
Chevrolet
91
1:41’03.278
29 Laps
33
35
Natalie Decker
Chevrolet
91
1:41’05.618
29 Laps
34
92
Josh Williams
Chevrolet
77
1:29’43.238
43 Laps
35
26
Dean Thompson
Toyota
68
1:28’57.354
52 Laps
36
25
Nicholas Sanchez
Ford
32
41’40.707
88 Laps
37
19
Gio Ruggiero
Toyota
29
32’03.965
91 Laps
38
91
Mason Maggio
Chevrolet
0
2.765
120 Laps
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