By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service
Austin Hill, Jesse Love embrace friendly rivalry at Richard Childress Racing
HAMPTON, Ga. – Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill arrives at his “home track” EchoPark Speedway a five-time winner in the last seven races here – and two-time defending winner of Saturday’s Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250 (5 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
His teammate, reigning NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series champion Jesse Love has won pole position in three of the last four Atlanta races giving the legendary RCR organization a bookend to success at the 1.5-mile high-banked track.
Which brings up the inevitable question, with both Hill and Love so good here, has a certain sense of rivalry developed between teammates on these big tracks? Both smiled when asked.
“I guess there is that motivation because Austin hangs a lot of banners up at RCR,’’ Love said of his teammates winning banners. “So I have that and that rivalry. … Especially at these race tracks he’s the toughest one to beat and I definitely learn a lot from him. At the end of the race sometimes we’re racing other people in the field, but nine times out of 10 we’re racing for the win.’’
Hill, whose No. 21 RCR Chevrolet won the Daytona season-opener last weekend, concedes that likewise, Love’s No. 2 RCR Chevy is always the car he has to keep an eye on as well – noting RCR’s current dominance at the big drafting tracks such as Daytona, Atlanta and Talladega, Ala.
“I would say when we’re out here at these speedways especially here at Atlanta, the number one car I don’t want behind me at the end of the race is the No. 2 car because I know he has just as good equipment as I have and he knows what he’s doing on these superspeedways
“So him talking about me being his biggest threat, he’s my biggest threat I feel like. There’s always that little fun rivalry you have inside the shop, but I think it kind of elevates both of us to the next level and pushes us to be better on the race track. We work well together when we have to, but then when it’s gloves off and we’re going or the win we’re going to try everything we can not to lose the race for both of us – but obviously he wants to win and I want to win for our team. It’s a fun little rivalry when we come to these places.’’
Haas Factory Team’s Sam Mayer won the Kennametal Pole Position in the No. 41 Chevrolet Camaro during Friday evening’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts qualifying session. Love qualified 10th and Hill will roll off 20th.
Rajah’s JR Motorsports groove
It took all of one start in the JR Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet for the popular young driver Rajah Caruth to score his best career finish (10th) and first career top-10 in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. The former fulltime NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver is doing a limited schedule in 2026 for JR Motorsports but was certainly energized by the Daytona debut.
The 23-year-old, two-time winner in the truck series is back behind the wheel this weekend at Atlanta and brings some extra confidence to the seat in Saturday’s race.
“Checked some boxes or maybe answered some questions I had about really running up front in an O’Reilly [series] car,’’ Caruth said. “I ran the Fall race [at Atlanta] for Jordan Anderson but I wasn’t running in the top-10 all day. So it [Daytona] really answered some questions I had from my years of truck (series) plate racing.
“It was great. Unfortunately got caught up in some other folks’ mess but to finish in the top-10 was great and really showed how fast all our cars were and how much the work at Hendrick Motorsports shop and JRM closed the gap to the RCR cars. I felt like we could take the fight to them last weekend. Didn’t work out obviously, but I’m very confident going into this weekend that one of us can get the job done.’’
Introducing Mini Tyrell
Two of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series RAM Trucks team fulltime drivers – Brenden McQueen and Mini Tyrrell – will be making their first series EchoPark Speedway start in Saturday’s race – qualifying 28th and 29th, respectively for the FR8 Racing 208 (1:30 p.m. ET, FS1, NRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
For Tyrrell, who won his seat in the No. 14 RAM 1500, it’s been a high-profile arrival on the NASCAR scene. He earned the season ride at Kaulig Racing through the “Race for the Seat” reality competition during the offseason – besting a field of 15 hopefuls. The eight-episode series aired on FOX networks and although Tyrrell is an accomplished short track driver, even he has noticed the additional attention it’s brought.
“It’s a huge step in the career and even this morning walking to the garage people wanted me to sign [autographs],’’ Tyrrell said. “To me that’s just so awesome because I’ve grown up being a race fan and loving racing. It’s been so special and I’ve been in the shoes of those people that love the drivers.
“It’s definitely unexpected, just because I was a local guy who ran the late models,’’ he said of the attention. “I had a bunch of fans that loved the short track scene but they didn’t really know who I was, the fans who love NASCAR. So it was really cool to make that entrance and so cool for the show and having that opportunity and getting my name out there and having so many new fans. It’s been such a pleasure to meet everybody. I love every minute when people come up.”
Garcia wins NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Pole Position
ThorSport Racing driver Jake Garcia, a Georgia-native, won pole position for Saturday’s race in his home state. It marked the fourth career Kennemetal Pole Position for the 20-year old, who fondly recalled coming to EchoPark Speedway to watch races when he was younger.
“This is really special, it’s a place where I used to come and watch races for my birthday and I have a lot of fond memories of this place so really cool to lead the field to the green flag,’’ said Garcia, whose best finish at his home track is ninth and came last year.
“Really excited to do that in front of a crowd of fellow Georgians.’’
Garcia’s lap of 172.980 mph just edged his ThorSport teammate, former series champion Ben Rhodes by a slight .047-second giving the team a lockout on the front row. Eight-time EchoPark Speedway truck race winner Kyle Busch will start third.
Also of note, Adam Andretti qualified eighth for his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut. He is the brother of the late John Andretti.
