The 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series season kicked off from Daytona International Speedway once again, where the track started off the year as usual; breaking the hearts of many drivers in the field, old and new.

In the end, it was the team that saw the least amount of change in 2025, Richard Childress Racing that came out of Daytona as the biggest benefactors.

The Xfinity Series saw a massive shakeup this year, with many teams changing driver lineups, sponsors and crew chiefs. On top of a massive rookie class, this made for an intriguing start to the year.

Brand new teams, like the Haas Factory Team, saw success immediately, with Sam Mayer finishing 2nd and starting the season off right for the newly formatted team.

For other teams, they saw the recruitment of new drivers, like nine time Truck Series winner Christian Eckes taking the wheel of the #16 Kaulig Chevrolet. Daytona was a way for much of the field to survey their drivers and cars and prepare for a long season.

The race started off with a bang immediately, where on lap 5, Jesse Love got into Brandon Jones and collected various cars. Austin Hill would control the field throughout the rest of stage one and win the stage, showcasing why the #21 Bennett Transportation Chevrolet has won three times in a row at the track.

He would jockey with 2024 series champion Justin Allgaier for the majority of stage two but continued to pace the field and would ultimately win the stage (not after Nick Sanchez was turned head first into the wall, ending stage two). Sweeping the first two stages, Hill was eyeing four straight season opener wins at Daytona while also tying Dale Earnhardt Jr and Tony Stewart for series wins at plate tracks. As it usually goes at Daytona, things didn’t start getting hectic until the third and final stage.

Hill was poised to get one step closer to history, but rather than tie a record shared by Smoke, he started to smell it in the cabin. Soon other drivers on the track complained of smoke on their windshields and saw fluid leaking from the #21. Under green, he and the other Chevrolets pitted on lap 82.

Austin Hill would not get a chance at the four-peat, as a rear axle issue was found to be the culprit for the prior issues and forced him to retire. With the heaviest hitter gone, it was now anyone’s game.

Lap 87 would see one of the weirder cautions you’ll come across in NASCAR. As the rest of the lead lap cars went to pit, Kris Wright in the #5 came flying into the pit lane at well beyond 55 MPH, slamming into Josh Bilicki and ruining both of their days.

Initially the team radio said there was a brake failure, however in post-crash interviews Kris Wright said it was a “spotter miscommunication”, not confirming nor denying the brake issue. Why would a spotter be needed for slowing at pit road entry? But I digress.

With 24 laps to go, it was Hill’s RCR teammate, Jesse Love, who had battled close to the leaders all race head to head against Sheldon Creed; his former RCR teammate.

Creed was now at the new Haas Factory team piloting the #00 Ford Mustang, and with 13 second place finishes, he was poised to make a statement. The two would spend the next 15 or so laps battling each other while also fighting JR Motorsports rookie Connor Zilisch, before Allgaier would get into rookie Justin Bonsignore and bring out the caution.

With two laps left, it looked as if it was coming down to the two former teammates battling for a trip to victory lane, but right as the cars were set to take the white flag, Zilisch was shoved into the wall by Allgaier and forced Love to fend off the competition in overtime.

With a two lap shootout on the horizon, Love was now forced to duel against Sam Mayer’s #41 Audibel Ford Mustang.

After a fantastic restart, Love made a daring move down the backstretch to get in front of Mayer. As the jockeying ensued behind him, Love would see the white flag as Allgaier, Williams, Burton and others wrecked out, ending the race under caution and declaring Love the winner

It was a satisfying finish to a tumultuous day for RCR, who can’t say no to the stage points from Austin Hill and the huge early win by teammate Love.

In a new season filled with a stacked rookie class, new faces, new cars and new teams, it was the familiar RCR duo who saw success in the first race of the season. While RCR reaped a big win, Haas Factory team quietly nabbed a second and third place finish, showing the remnants of Stewart-Haas Racing may give the new team early success. Also a Jordan Anderson top-10, who doesn’t like that?

The Xfinity Series heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway (or Superspeedway, really) for another drafting race with many of the teams likely using the same chassis, granted they survived the chaos of Daytona.

The Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250 waves the green flag from ATL at 2:00 PM PST, Saturday, Feb. 22nd.