How’s it going, Daily Downforce readers? After a standalone weekend, the NASCAR Xfinity Series is paired back up with the NASCAR Cup Series the following weekend as the stars of tomorrow prepare to take on the daunting Talladega Superspeedway. Anytime the Xfinity boys are in town at the 2.6-mile tri-oval, eyes, for better or worse, instantly fall on the Chevys of Richard Childress Racing and JR Motorsports. Thus far, RCR dominated the year’s superspeedway races in 2025 as Jesse Love and Austin Hill won Daytona and Atlanta, respectively. Did their dominance continue here today? Or did someone rise up to spoil the party? Let’s break it down. Here are the 3 key takeaways from the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Talladega.
In the closing laps of the race, the RCR duo of Jesse Love and Austin Hill kept getting shuffled in the outermost lane. But each time, they still ruthlessly fought their way to the front. After taking the white flag, the JRM trio of Connor Zilisch, Carson Kvapil, and Justin Allgaier were racing the RCR Chevys. Flying down the backstretch, Jesse Love tried to leave Zilisch out to dry. Unfortunately, he made contact with the 88. Zilisch turned down and made brutal contact with the inside wall. He was slow to get out, but it was confirmed by the CW Sports broadcast booth that Zilisch did exit he vehicle.
What happened next was typical superspeedway chaos. Going into Turn 3, Jesse Love, Jeb Burton, and Austin Hill were three-wide. The caution flew and the race was over. Instantly, the finish was under review. After a few minutes of deliberation, Austin Hill was named the winner of the race. Jeb Burton and Jesse Love finished second and third, respectively.
Driver of the number 2 Wheelen Chevrolet Jesse Love scored the pole for today’s race. And, from the drop of the green flag, he showcased why Richard Childress Racing is considered a heavy hitter any time the series heads to a superspeedway. They just naturally have a knack for it this style of racing, similar to how DEI performed in the series back in the early-to-mid 2000s. They won the first two superspeedway races to start the year. Today, they were looking to keep a perfect streak of 3 for 3.
At the start of the race, Love rocketed out front with his teammate Austin Hill pushing him from second. He never looked back. Jesse Love went on to win his first stage of 2025 by dominating the opening stage of the AG-Pro 300 at Talladega. It was a promising sign considering Love’s heartbreaking disqualification from last week at Rockingham.
During the stage break, the field came down for pit stops. Jesse Love, taking two tires, narrowly won the race off pit road over Christian Eckes. Hill, who took 4 tires, lost four positions on track, dropping down to the 6th position. Still, it didn’t take Hill long to work his way back up to the front. In the closing laps of the stage, Jesse Love and Austin Hill were once again running 1-2. Hill was able to overtake Love to claim the second stage for himself. Rinse and repeat, the RCR domination continued.
When it comes to the NASCAR Xfinity Series, the racing product is often considered some of the sloppiest of the three national touring divisions. NASCAR’s second-tier series has earned the reputation in recent months on par with the ARCA/Truck Series reputation of years past. And you know what? It makes sense. Many of the Truckers from last year and years prior are rookies. Drivers like Sammy Smith, Sam Mayer, and Austin Hill have a tendency to run over their fellow competitors. Look no further than this year’s Martinsville race as an example.
Talladega is a track that often embraces chaos. But we didn’t really see a whole lot of that, particularly in the earlier stages of the race. Both the opening stage and the second stage went caution-free. For the first two-thirds of this race, the only cautions to fly were for the stage breaks. It was clear that the drivers were mindful of their p’s and q’s in this race with their eyes on the prize.
Note: To say that the race was “clean” does not mean boring in this instance. Today’s race was anything but boring. Cars could pass and come and go through the field. So, the racing product was not clean but also exciting.
Since making her NASCAR Cup Series debut at Phoenix earlier this year for Live Fast Motorsports, Kathrine Legge has been the butt of many jokes. Fans online have said things like “she can’t drive” as well as make direct threats of violence towards her, especially after her dust-up with Kasey Kahne last week at Rockingham. The reality of the matter is that Katherine is a more than competent driver, having driven and had success in all sorts of vehicles. But something to keep in mind is that she’s a road racer at heart and oval racing is somewhat alien to her.
That said, she started to show a little bit of promise in the race today at Talladega. Warming up to the draft, Legge led a handful of laps and was running in the top 10 in some portions of the race. Unfortunately, fans online will likely continue to pile on her after she was caught up in yet another NASCAR on-track racing incident.
Needless to say, this incident wasn’t Katherine Legg’s fault in the slightest. As you can see in the clip below provided by CW Sports, Aric Almirola in the 19 JGR Toyota decided to try to squeeze himself in a hole that wasn’t there when his spotter cleared him on the backstretch. Almirola’s move collected Legge, Brandon Jones, and Talladega fan-favorite, Jeffrey Earnhardt. But I’m sure, despite Legge being an innocent bystander, she will probably get blamed for X.
That does it for the Xfinity Series action in Talladega. What are your thoughts on this race, Daily Downforce readers? Let us hear your displeasure about Austin Hill winning! How did your driver do? Be sure to shout it out on all of our socials. And be sure to tune back in here tomorrow for our coverage of the NASCAR Cup Series race at ‘Dega!
