DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The NASCAR Xfinity Series kicks off the 2025 season Saturday with the United Rentals 300 (5 p.m. ET on the CW, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) – a potentially historical quest to see if Richard Childress Racing driver Austin Hill can win his fourth consecutive Daytona season-opener.
Should Hill win Saturday evening, it would break a tie with NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. who won the race three straight years from 2002-04. His father, the late fellow NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt, however, holds the all-time race record of five consecutive wins from 1990-94.
Not only has the RCR powerhouse won those races, but the team has won the pole position in six of the series’ last seven races at the big drafting tracks (at Daytona Beach, Talladega, Ala. and Atlanta).
Despite the impressive statistics, however, Hill can expect big time competition Saturday from the reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Justin Allgaier, who won the summer Daytona race in 2023 and has finished in the top-10 in six of the last seven races at the big track.
The popular 38-year old driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet finished last season with five consecutive top-10 finishes, including a runner-up in the Phoenix championship race to claim his first title in 14 fulltime seasons in the series. Allgaier hopes to be pulling double duty this weekend, driving the No. 40 Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the DAYTONA 500 (2:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The series will also feature another likely championship contender in Harrison Burton. The 24-year old returns to fulltime Xfinity Series competition driving the No. 25 AM Racing Ford after three spending the last three seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series with the famed Wood Brothers. Burton has four career Xfinity Series wins in two previous fulltime seasons (2020-21).
Of note, four of the last six series races at Daytona have ended under caution and four of the last five featured an overtime finish. Sixteen drivers have won the last 19 races at the track – the only two drivers with multiple wins in that time are Hill and Justin Haley.
Rookie phenom Connor Zilisch will be driving his first full season in the Xfinity Series steering the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. The 18-year old won from pole position in his series debut last year at Watkins Glen, N.Y. and earned top-five finishes in three of his four starts. In six NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series starts last year in that series’ debut, he won two pole positions (at Austin and Bristol, Tenn.) and scored a top-five (Austin).
Much is expected for this talented and versatile Zilisch who already has sports car victories in two of the biggest races on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Series schedule – the 2024 Rolex 24 at Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring.
Zilisch joins Nick Sanchez and Taylor Gray who made names for themselves in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series and are odds-on favorites to contend for wins, if not the Xfinity Series title this season.
Qualifying for the United Rentals 300 is Saturday at 10 a.m. ET and available to watch on the CW App. Sam Mayer – who move from JR Motorsports to the Haas Factory Team – is the defending polesitter. The pole-winner has won only two of the last 30 NASCAR Xfinity Races at Daytona.
Source: Holly Cain | NASCAR Wire Service
