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Parker Kligerman denied Austin Hill his third Xfinity victory of the season after a final-moment wreck at Talladega.
Pole sitter Austin Hill raced competitively for the most of the 300-mile race at the Talladega Superspeedway in the Xfinity Feature race today (April 21). Leading the pack with two laps to go, Parker Kligerman turned him around in an attempt to overtake. The #21 spun, collecting Anthony Alfredo and turning it into a multiple-car wreck.
Sending the race into overtime, the wreck gave rookie Jesse Love the lead, who managed to win his first Xfinity Series race despite another caution right after the restart.
You can watch the thrilling climax action here:
The #21 Richard Childress Racing driver has performed excellently this season. He won the opening race at Daytona and carried the momentum into Atlanta Motor Speedway, winning the first two consecutive races. He kept his car within the top five at five races in the season and won two stages.
Despite the stats, Austin Hill has led only 84 laps in the season. Jesse Love, the rookie sensation, has already led 220 laps and sits fourth in the championship, right behind Hill.
All the drivers around the latter have led over 200 laps, except for Cole Custer in second (106 laps led).
Austin Hill on Talladega crash: "It was just one of those racing deals"
Austin Hill has proved his mettle on Superspeedways in the last three years. He has won the 300-mile race at Daytona consecutively since 2022 with RCR. However, his record at Talladega does not reflect the same light.
Hill lost all chances of winning the race he was dominating with just two laps to go. He managed to finish the race in fourteenth place.
Talking to Frontstretch after the event, the #21 Chevrolet driver expressed his disappointment with the crash but called it a "racing deal."
"From the replay, it looked like he just slid across my nose," Hill said. "It was fine when he was pushing me getting into the corner, but as he slid across my nose, I kind of went up toward the wall and kind of got in a moment of where I couldn’t turn the wheel. It’s just one of those racing deals that happens in these Superspeedway races."
His team was able to send him back to racing after the crash with quick repairs, hence his 14th-place finish. This was his worst finish in the season until now, having finished 34th at Martinsville earlier.
