How’s it going, NASCAR fans? With the first race to this Saturday double-headers in the books, it’s now time for the stars of tomorrow, the NASCAR Xfinity Series, to take to the Atlanta Motor Speedway! That’s right! It’s time for Round 2 of 35 for the Xfinity Series drivers as they gear up for the Bennett Transportation and Logistics 250! Who was strong to start and who faded? What drivers had issues late and which ones were caught up in someone else’s messes? Let’s talk about it! Here’s everything that happened in tonight’s NASCAR Xfinity Series at Hotlanta!
Ahead of the truck coverage on FS1, Bob Pockrass took to X to breakdown this double-header. The stage format for tonight’s Xfinity Series race was as follows:
Teams were given 4 sets of fresh Goodyear rubber. The fuel window for the Xfinity cars was expected between 62 and 67 laps.
The Xfinity Series guys started off much more aggressive than the youngsters in the Truck Series. That said, the racing still remained a well-managed chaos. The RCR Chevys set the pace early with Austin Hill and Jesse Love controlling the field. After running a handful of laps under green, we got our first caution of the race.
The first caution for incident broke out with a few isolated issues. First, Jeb Burton got all bent out of shape. Then, Ryan Sieg spun out on the backstretch. That said, the caution wasn’t triggered until Dean Thompson subsequently spun out in turns 3 and 4 and stalled the car up on the banked. This brought out the caution. During a yellow flag pit cycle, Sieg pitted for fresh Goodyear rubber. Then, Thompson was forced to serve a 1-lap penalty for intentionally causing a caution. Check out Seig’s big save below.
Different race, same old story. We knew that polesitter Austin Hill had a bad fast car in Atlanta. He always does on these drafting tracks. But from the drop of the green flag, through the caution cycle, to the end of the stage, driver number 21 was number 1 on the scoring pylon. For most of this stage, he led a train around the top groove of the track. On the last lap of the stage, Sam Mayer made a move down low but didn’t have what it took to get by the RCR duo. With this stage performance, Hill surpassed 1,000 laps led in his career. He also earned 10 points and 1 playoff point. Mayer barely edged out Love for second.
It appeared as though the don’t team that might have something for the RCR boys early on were those Haas Factory Fords.
During the stage break, the entire field came down pit road for service. The RCR drivers of Austin Hill and Jesse Love took only 2 tires. Sammy Smith, also taking 2 tires, jumped up to 3rd on the race off of pit road. The rest of the field largely took 4 tires during their stops.
Austin Hill once again led the field to take the green flag. And just like that, the second stage was underway. Early on, the RCR guys rose to the occasion again. There was one point in the stage where Jesse Love was able to overtake Hill in turn 1 down low. However, Love’s moment in the sun didn’t last long. Hill was able to regain the lead on the next lap, narrowly sliding up in front of his teammate. From there, he never looked back.
There were no cautions during this stage and Austin Hill led the rest of the way relatively uncontested. On the last lap, coming to the green and white checkered flag, Sam Mayer made a run on the leaders. But Hill, being the new pied piper, was able to hold him off with his masterful blocking skill. Hill went on to sweep both stages of the race. This was his fourth stage win of the season thus far as he swept both stages last week in Daytona. With this, he also earned 10 points and 1 playoff point. Myer finished second in the stage with Aric Almirola slowly making his way up through the field.
The race restarted with 65 laps to go. Austin Hill chose to restart on the outside while Love, with a bit of a slower pit stop, restarted back in 8th. Justin Allgaier restarted to Hill inside. After about a lap, Hill was able to get back out front to control both lanes behind him. As the race went on and things calmed down (just a tad) the bottom lane prevailed. Leading the bottom was Austin Hill, Justin Allgaier, and Sammy Smith in the 8.
From the middle of the pack, Jeb Burton started making his way forward, pressing the issue, taking his number 27 chevy 3-wide in tight corners.
At around 50 laps to go, the first multi-car wreck of the evening occurred. It was sparked by Jeremy Clements’ 51 getting loose in dirty air and going around. This caused him to make contact with Taylor Gray which sent him into Connor Zilisch in the JRM 88. Fortunately for Zilisch, his damage was minimal and mostly cosmetic. Clements, however, suffered the most damage with Gray getting a great deal amount of bent-up sheet metal as well. Check out the wreck here:
JR Motorsports’ X page reported on the 88 after the wreck.
The race restarted with Austin Hill again taking control of the back. Following him around in the bottom lane were Ryan Sieg, Sam Mayer, and the JRM drivers of Justin Allgaier and Sammy Smith. The next caution came out just a couple of laps later.
It has been a miserable last couple of years for Brandon Jones. Since being taken out by Ty Gibbs at Martinsville in 2022, it seems like nothing ever goes his way. Jones’ two years at JRM were abysmal, and his struggles continue today, in his second race back with Joe Gibbs Racing. After falling out early last week, Jones ran mostly in the back of the pack for most of the night. The incident which brought out the 6th caution of the night. This caution was a result of a rear tire exploding in the back of that number 20 Menards Toyota. He spun around on the backstretch and, luckily, nobody else was involved. Watch Jones’ race go from bad to worse here.
The race restarted with around 30 laps to go. Hill, once again and in dominant fashion, took control of the leaders as they all fell in behind him. Coming into play now was veteran Aric Almirola in 4th in addition to the usual suspects. Though the leaders were pretty much in the clear, around 10th on back was in a hairy mess. As drivers became more desperate and real estate became smaller, Sanchez got into the number 41 of Sam Mayer after the 48 car clipped the apron. This sent Mayer down low where he just barely clipped Connor Zilisch. He then shot back up the track where he made a hard head-on impact into the outside SAFER barrier. This collision into the wall also collected the 42 of Fast Pasta himself, Anthony Alfredo.
This incident ended the night of both Alfredo and Mayer. Luckily for Mayer, he earned 17 stage points earlier in the night.
As they restarted, Austin Hill, Justin Allgaier, and Sammy Smith started on the outside with Almirola and Sheldon Creed down low. At the drop of the green flag, the inside lane stalled slightly. Meanwhile, on the outside, Allgaier hooked up to the 21 of Hill, and the two separated themselves briefly from the pack. This created a run behind them and Allgaier separated to run on Hill outside. The move didn’t work, however, as Hill regained control of both lines. Sammy Smith was also rallying back on the inside after being ditched by his teammate. The two JRM cars ran side-by-side with the 21 out on front, blocking.
With 10 laps to go, the caution flew as Smith hit some blue foam debris. The debris came from Connor Zilisch’s number 88 Chevy. Zilisch pitted and the pack lined up once more to go green, this time with inside 5 laps to go. Zilisch subsequently retired from the race.
Austin Hill chose to restart on the outside to restart the race. The JRM drivers of Justin Allgaier and Sammy Smith chose to take the inside. Almirola started behind Hill with Sieg lined up behind the JRM Chevys. The race restarted with only 3 laps remaining.
Upon the restart, Sammy Smith latched onto the bumper of his teammate Justin Allgaier. This propelled the number 7 briefly to the lead. However, the bottom lane broke apart. This allowed Hill and Almirola to charge hard on the outside. Despite Almirola making a move for the pass on the last lap, Hill powered back. He went on to win his third race in a row at Atlanta. Allgaier crossed the line in second, Almirola 3rd. As those three were battling hard for the win, there was a massive pileup on the backstretch. The wreck collected the likes of Ryan Sieg and Parker Retzlaff.
Hill ultimately led over 140 laps of this race on his way to his fifth career Atlanta win. RCR, to this point, has also won all four stages and both races so far in 2025.
The second checkered flag of the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series season is officially in the books! RCR reigns supreme early this season! What did you think of this race, NASCAR fans? Let us know what you’re thinking on all of our socials. Also, be sure to tune back in here at DailyDownforce.com tomorrow for our coverage of the Cup Series race in Hotlanta!
