Austin Hill, driver of the No. 21 NASCAR Chevy Camaro in the Xfinity Series, won a three-way shootout at the end of the 2023 season-opening race at Daytona in a thrilling photo finish on February 18th, 2023.
On the last lap of a NASCAR Overtime finish, two NASCAR Chevy teammates tangled on the back stretch, sending the No. 1 Camaro of Sam Mayer end-over-end. Mayer’s No. 1 Camaro ended up skidding on its roof for a long stretch, prompting NASCAR to throw a caution flag to prevent the field from piling into him. Because the incident occurred on the white flag lap of an Overtime finish, that caution flag ended the race. However, at the time of the caution, three Xfinity racers were neck-and-neck – and nobody was sure which car was ahead of the two others when the yellow flag flew.
As such, the No. 7 Camaro of Justin Allgaier, the No. 20 Toyota Supra of John Hunter Nemechek and the No. 21 Camaro of Hill all pulled their race cars onto the racetrack at the entrance to the trioval, awaiting the call from NASCAR to find out which driver had been ahead at the time that the caution was thrown. Ultimately, the victory was granted to Hill’s No. 21 NASCAR Chevy, which had been just inches ahead of the other two potential winners as the caution lights were illuminated.
“As soon as the caution lights came on, I thought I had it, but it was so close,” Hill, who also won the season-opening Xfinity Series event at Daytona in 2022, said after the race. “To get back-to-back here at Daytona, it’s really special. That’s three wins for me now, two in the Xfinity, one in the truck here. We came from the back two different times. I hope everyone enjoyed it. It was such a blast. I had so much fun. We won at Daytona! Let’s go!”
Allgaier’s No. 7 Camaro, meanwhile, was involved in an early race incident that severely damaged his race car. However, his team was able to make proper repairs and put him back in contention for the lead. At the end of the night, though, it seemed he just didn’t have enough to pull it off.
Mayer was able to exit the heavily damaged No. 1 Camaro under his own power once he was attended to by safety crews.
Finish | Start | Car Number | Driver | Team | Laps Run | Laps Led | Car |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | 21 | Austin Hill | Bennett Transportation Chevrolet | 125 | 39 | Chevrolet Camaro |
2 | 7 | 20 | John Hunter Nemechek | Mobil 1 Toyota | 125 | 8 | Toyota Supra |
3 | 5 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | BRANDT Chevrolet | 125 | 36 | Chevrolet Camaro |
4 | 16 | 31 | Parker Retzlaff # | FUNKAWAY Chevrolet | 125 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
5 | 13 | 19 | Myatt Snider | Tree Top Toyota | 125 | 0 | Toyota Supra |
6 | 9 | 98 | Riley Herbst | Monster Energy Ford | 125 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
7 | 29 | 39 | Joe Graf Jr | Getcoverseal.com Ford | 125 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
8 | 22 | 38 | Ryan Sieg | CMRroofing.com Ford | 125 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
9 | 3 | 0 | Cole Custer | Haas Automation Ford | 125 | 1 | Ford Mustang |
10 | 19 | 10 | Justin Haley(i) | DaaBIN Store Chevrolet | 125 | 1 | Chevrolet Camaro |
11 | 20 | 27 | Jeb Burton | State Water Heaters Chevrolet | 125 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
12 | 8 | 16 | Chandler Smith # | Quick Tie Products Inc. Chevrolet | 125 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
13 | 17 | 45 | Stefan Parsons | Clear Cryptos Chevrolet | 125 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
14 | 11 | 9 | Brandon Jones | Menards/Swiffer Chevrolet | 125 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
15 | 25 | 92 | Josh Williams | Alloy Employer/Call 811 Chevrolet | 125 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
16 | 34 | 24 | Parker Chase | Ontivity Toyota | 125 | 0 | Toyota Supra |
17 | 38 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | One Stop/All South Electric Chevrolet | 125 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
18 | 36 | 53 | Joey Gase | National Crime Prevention Ford | 125 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
19 | 15 | 18 | Sammy Smith # | TMC Toyota | 125 | 0 | Toyota Supra |
20 | 23 | 8 | Gray Gaulding | Panini Chevrolet | 125 | 1 | Chevrolet Camaro |
21 | 26 | 28 | Kyle Sieg | Night Owl Ford | 125 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
22 | 28 | 2 | David Starr | Special Report with Bret Baier Chevrolet | 125 | 2 | Chevrolet Camaro |
23 | 2 | 48 | Parker Kligerman | Big Machine Racing Spiked Chevrolet | 125 | 1 | Chevrolet Camaro |
24 | 10 | 78 | Anthony Alfredo | Ticket Smarter Chevrolet | 125 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
25 | 12 | 5 | Jade Buford | Double Spiked Coolers Chevrolet | 125 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
26 | 18 | 8 | Josh Berry | Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Boats Chevrolet | 125 | 17 | Chevrolet Camaro |
27 | 14 | 1 | Sam Mayer | Accelerate Pros Talent Chevrolet | 124 | 14 | Chevrolet Camaro |
28 | 24 | 44 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | ForeverLawn Chevrolet | 124 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
29 | 32 | 25 | Brett Moffitt | AM Technical Solutions Ford | 124 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
30 | 37 | 34 | Jesse Iwuji | Chevrolet | 110 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
31 | 31 | 35 | CJ McLaughlin | Sci-Aps Ford | 87 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
32 | 33 | 26 | Kaz Grala | Island Coastal Lager Toyota | 82 | 0 | Toyota Supra |
33 | 21 | 6 | Brennan Poole | Macc Door Systems Chevrolet | 81 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
34 | 4 | 2 | Sheldon Creed | Whelen Chevrolet | 41 | 5 | Chevrolet Camaro |
35 | 35 | 43 | Ryan Ellis | Heartbeat Hot Sauce Chevrolet | 41 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
36 | 6 | 11 | Daniel Hemric | Cirkul Chevrolet | 20 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
37 | 27 | 7 | Blaine Perkins # | AUTOPARKit.com Chevrolet | 19 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
38 | 30 | 4 | Bayley Currey | Mikes Weather Page/Firman Chevrolet | 8 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver
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Comments
Does anyone know what happens to all the Camaro’s next season since Chevy will no longer be making the Camaro?