Austin Hill edges out Jeb Burton for Xfinity Series win at Talladega

Austin Hill had mastered Daytona and Atlanta. He had never, until today, won at Talladega Superspeedway in the Xfinity Series. Today, in an unlikely win for the NASCAR driver, he was in the right place at the right time.

Connor Zilisch made a block and got turned by Jesse Love. It was a huge, single-car hit into the inside wall. From there, the caution flag came out and ended the race since it was the last lap.

Austin Hill was ahead at the time of caution. He gets his first Talladega win and is now the all-time wins leader at drafting tracks in the Xfinity Series.

The caution that came out on the final lap that made @_AustinHill the winner at Talladega 😱 pic.twitter.com/CKWrIUVjFJ

— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) April 26, 2025

Austin Hill manages to win these drafting track races even when he isn’t in contention for much of the afternoon. There is not a lot you can do to stop this RCR power at these superspeedway tracks.

That wreck from Connor Zilisch was violent. He eventually got out of the car on his own and was able to go to the care center. Zilisch got checked out, caught his breath, and then left the care center to do his post-race interviews.

This race really didn’t have a lot of wrecks and crazy moments. It did have a few that changed how the end of the race played out. It started with the Sammy Smith and Greg van Alst wreck on Lap 80. Jeb Burton just barely touched Smith to get that one going.

Then there was the Aric Almirola and Katherine Legge incident. Almirola wasn’t clear and tried to move up in front of Legge. That didn’t work out for anyone involved.

Finally, the last lap – Zilisch blocks Love and a few seconds later is in the wall. NASCAR could have kept this race green, but given the severity of that hit from Zilisch, I’m fine with the caution coming out.

Austin Hill wins, Jeb Burton pleads his case

One driver who won’t be partying on Talladega Boulevard tonight is Jeb Burton. He is going to go home with his head held a little low after the close finish on the last lap. If that caution light comes out a second early or a second late, we might have had a different winner today.

Burton was adamant that he had won the race. Even when he saw the photos of the 27, 2, and 21 car three-wide as the lights came on, he thought it was his race.

“Every angle I keep seeing, we win the race. Just frustrated with that, maybe they can give us a different angle here. I don’t know what’s so complicated, we’re gonna protest, do whatever the hell we can do because I think we won this race,” Burton said after the finish.

“We don’t have a lot of chances to win, you know?” Burton continued as he fought through tears. “That’s what’s frustrating.”

Unfortunately, for Burton, it appears Austin Hill did win this race. An angle out of Turn 3 showed pretty definitively that Hill was the victor, even if by just a foot. A tough end to this race for a few drivers and for a few different reasons, as well.