Austin Hill won the NASCAR O'Reilly race in San Diego on Saturday, June 20, 2026, after a dramatic battle lasting nearly five hours, thanks to a last-lap maneuver. Driving the #21 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, Hill pushed Taylor Gray out on the white flag lap to take the lead and claim the checkered flag. This was Hill's 16th victory in his NASCAR O'Reilly career and his first win on a street circuit.
Final ranking and table
At the end of the race, Gray finished second, Sheldon Creed third, Carson Kvapil fourth, and Sammy Smith fifth. The rest of the top ten were completed by Jesse Love, Parker Retzlaff, Austin Green, Harrison Burton, and Corey Day. Hill celebrated his victory lap by completely burning out his tires; his car then had to be retired. Hill, who also burned out the black number 8 painted on the track, dedicated this gesture to the memory of RCR and NASCAR legend Kyle Busch, who passed away last month.
A chaotic race
On the first lap of the race, a metal cover fell onto the track, shredding the nose of Corey Day's car and halting the race for 20 minutes with a yellow flag, followed by 25 minutes with a red flag. During the red flag period, NASCAR allowed Hendrick Motorsports to replace Day's radiator and regain the lost laps due to special circumstances; this decision... NASCAR O'Reilly was deemed justified by the majority of teams.. The race could only restart on lap 10.
At the San Diego NASCAR O'Reilly race, a metal cover punctured the nose of Corey Day's car! After a delay of about an hour, Day managed to climb back up to 10th place. #NASCAR #SanDiego #FrenYok pic.twitter.com/1AdNOgtvTy
— Fren Yok (@frenyok46) June 21, 2026
The first stage was completed by Hill, Retzlaff, Mayer, Alfredo, Kvapil, Smith, Creed, Green, Gray, and Sawalich in that order. In the second stage, Sammy Smith spun twice, while Allgaier continued the race with one of his rollers disabled. Gray took the stage victory, narrowly overtaking Retzlaff; the final standings were: Gray, Retzlaff, Anthony Alfredo, Day, Mayer, Crews, Kvapil, Hill, S. Smith, and Sawalich.
At the start of the third stage, Sam Mayer crashed into the inside wall at turn 1, passing Alfredo's nose and then swerving onto the outside wall, resulting in a massive accident involving over 20 cars and suspending the race for an extended period for wall repairs. During this stoppage, a fan crossed the barriers onto the track, shook hands with Sheldon Creed, and was subsequently detained while attempting to escape by climbing over the fence. In the final lap, Taylor Gray spun Kvapil while leading, but Hill used both his speed and position selection correctly on the white flag lap to overtake Gray and claim victory.