Austin Hill wins dramatic NASCAR O'Reilly San Diego race in last-lap pass

It took almost five hours from start-to-finish, but in the end, it was the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet of Austin Hill who captured the checkered flag.

After Taylor Gray sent Carson Kvapil spinning from the lead with three laps to go, Hill muscled Gray out of the way on the white flag lap, claiming victory for RCR.

Gray finished second, Sheldon Creed third, Kvapil fourth, and Sammy Smith fifth. Jesse Love, Parker Retzlaff, Austin Green, Harrison Burton, and Corey Day filled out the remainder of the top ten.

Hill absolutely burned the tires off of it in his post-race celebration, and needed to get towed back to Victory Lane. He even did a burnout around the black No. 8 painted onto the track’s surface in tribute to fallen NASCAR legend and RCR driver Kyle Busch.

This is Hill’s 16th career NASCAR O’Reilly win, but his first on a road course.

Stage 1

Saturday’s race got off to a strange start as a metal cover came loose on the opening lap. Corey Day struck it, and the cover went straight through the nose of the car.

After 20 minuets of yellow, NASCAR finally red-flagged the race for a further 25 minutes while repairs were made and other covers were inspected.

While Day’s race was supposed to be over, NASCAR made some surprising rule changes to alter his fate. Due to the special circumstances, Hendrick Motorsports was allowed to work under the red flag, replace the destroyed radiator, and even get their laps back before the race finally resumed on Lap 10. Day also narrowly avoided a safety truck after returning to the race.

Stage 2

During the early portion of Stage 2, Sammy Smith went for two separate spins, and Thompson made significant contact with the wall after contact from Day.

Allgaier also went for a spin, and reported being down a cylinder, but the next caution was for the stalled car of Lavar Scott. A handful of cars had already pitted, but many more took the opportunity to pit under yellow, including Hill and Crews.

Suddenly, it was Tay. Gray and Retzlaff out front for the restart. Allgaier went for another spin back in the pack, while Retzlaff and Gray engaged in a thrilling battle for the stage win.

They were side-by-side throughout much of the final lap, with Gray finally prevailing as Retzlaff made slight contact with the wall.

Gray won Stage 2, followed by Retzlaff, Anthony Alfredo, Day, Mayer, Crews, Kvapil, Hill, S. Smith, and Sawalich.

Stage 3

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Retzlaff snatched the lead away from Gray on the ensuing restart, while Day’s strange race got worse as Thompson appeared to retaliate from earlier contact, sending him into the wall. That triggered a full-course caution.

The restart that followed was race-altering in a very big way. Sam Mayer clipped the inside wall in Turn 1, shooting across Alfredo’s nose and sending both cars careening into the outside wall.

More than 20 cars were involved, and the race was halted for lengthy wall repairs. During the stoppage, a fan ran out onto the track and chatted with Sheldon Creed, before fleeing over fencing and ultimately getting arrested.

Retzlaff was leading the race, but Kvapil eventually took the lead. Cars began to pit under green with about 20 laps to go, Gray among them.

Soon after, Leland Honeyman went for a spin, moving a tire pack in the final chicane, which forced officials to throw a caution, interrupting the cycle.

Then it was heartbreak for Retzlaff, who ran out of fuel while running second behind the pace car. The rest of the field took the opportunity to pit during this caution, and Gray was now the driver out front due to pitting just before the yellow.

With ten to go, Jesse Iwuji brought out a yellow after pieces of his damaged fender fell onto the track.

Kvapil was in control of the race, and there was constant chaos throughout the pack. Brandon Jones, Brennan Poole, Jeb Burton, and Rajah Caruth all spun in separate incidents, but the race remained green as the battle for the lead got intense.

Gray sent it under Kvapil with three laps to go, but wheel-hopped into the side of him, sending the JRM driver spinning. That run-in brought Hill back into the fight, and he moved Gray out of the way on the final lap, securing an emotional win for RCR.

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1		21	Chevrolet	60	3:29’53.767		5	68
2	Joe Gibbs Racing	54	Toyota	60	+1.127 3:29’54.894	1.127	5	47
3		00	Chevrolet	60	+1.546 3:29’55.313	0.419	6	38
4	JR Motorsports	1	Chevrolet	60	+5.710 3:29’59.477	4.164	5	44
5	JR Motorsports	8	Chevrolet	60	+7.275 3:30’01.042	1.565	6	39
6	Richard Childress Racing	2	Chevrolet	60	+7.729 3:30’01.496	0.454	7	31
7	Viking Motorsports	99	Chevrolet	60	+10.841 3:30’04.608	3.112	5	48
8	Peterson Racing Group	87	Chevrolet	60	+11.231 3:30’04.998	0.390	7	32
9		24	Toyota	60	+11.754 3:30’05.521	0.523	9	28
10	Hendrick Motorsports	17	Chevrolet	60	+20.864 3:30’14.631	9.110	9	34
11		39	Chevrolet	60	+32.604 3:30’26.371	11.740	6	26
12		20	Toyota	60	+37.871 3:30’31.638	5.267	6	25
13	Jordan Anderson Racing	31	Chevrolet	60	+39.171 3:30’32.938	1.300	6	24
14	Jordan Anderson Racing	32	Chevrolet	60	+39.710 3:30’33.477	0.539	7	23
15		51	Chevrolet	60	+40.298 3:30’34.065	0.588	5	22
16		07	Chevrolet	60	+40.912 3:30’34.679	0.614	10	21
17		27	Chevrolet	60	+41.451 3:30’35.218	0.539	4	20
18	Pardus Racing Inc.	50	Chevrolet	60	+53.853 3:30’47.620	12.402	6	19
19	Joey Gase Motorsports	55	Toyota	60	+1’03.876 3:30’57.643	10.023	7	18
20	Big Machine Racing Team	48	Chevrolet	60	+1’20.107 3:31’13.874	16.231	7	17
21	Joey Gase Motorsports	35	Chevrolet	60	+1’21.269 3:31’15.036	1.162	7	16
22	JR Motorsports	88	Chevrolet	60	+1’21.688 3:31’15.455	0.419	6	15
23		53	Chevrolet	60	+1’23.931 3:31’17.698	2.243	7	14
24		44	Chevrolet	60	+1’24.720 3:31’18.487	0.789	7	13
25		91	Chevrolet	60	+1’40.472 3:31’34.239	15.752	7	12
26	DGM Racing with Jesse Iwuji Motorsports	92	Chevrolet	59	+1 Lap 3:32’24.404	1 Lap	9
27		0	Chevrolet	52	+8 Laps 3:11’34.823	7 Laps	5	10
28	Sam Hunt Racing	26	Toyota	52	+8 Laps 3:30’45.438	19’10.615	7	9
29	Alpha Prime Racing	45	Chevrolet	48	+12 Laps 3:31’32.968	4 Laps	9	8
30		02	Chevrolet	47	+13 Laps 3:31’23.632	1 Lap	5	7
31	Joe Gibbs Racing	19	Toyota	44	+16 Laps 2:48’16.878	3 Laps	7	11
32		7	Chevrolet	43	+17 Laps 2:45’56.296	1 Lap	9	5
33	Young’s Motorsports	42	Chevrolet	41	+19 Laps 2:34’46.364	2 Laps	7	4
34	Haas Factory Team	41	Chevrolet	34	+26 Laps 2:10’11.350	7 Laps	7	17
35	Viking Motorsports	96	Chevrolet	34	+26 Laps 2:10’11.370	0.020	6	17
36	Joe Gibbs Racing	18	Toyota	34	+26 Laps 2:10’11.777	0.407	7	3
37	RSS Racing	28	Chevrolet	28	+32 Laps 1:45’54.464	6 Laps	5	1