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Seas Nearly Parted For Jordan Anderson In Season-Opener At Daytona

by Hunter Thomas February 15, 2026 0 comments

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The seas were parting for Jordan Anderson on the final lap of the season-opening United Rentals 300 at Daytona International Speedway, but then the door shut.

Anytime Anderson competes in a NASCAR national series race at Daytona, he’s always in the mix on the final lap, and this season, Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito Autosport has a technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing (RCR). On the final lap, Anderson, who finished fourth, nearly overtook RCR’s Austin Hill, who won the organization’s fifth consecutive season-opening race.

“Yeah, what a great finish for our whole team,” Anderson said. “To get a top-five, Blaine (Perkins) was top-10, Banks’ (son) first race, first time at Daytona. Had him on the car with me.”

Anderson started the race in 17^th, and throughout Stages 1 and 2, he dodged all the chaos and kept good care of his No. 32 easycare Chevrolet. In the final lap, Hill had to block JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier and Anderson to keep the race lead.

“Honestly, their race played to our strategy,” Anderson said. “We were hanging out in the back the first two stages and kept getting track position and kept working on the car. The car kept getting better, but I don’t get to do this a lot.”

Anderson got a huge run on the final lap as he bumped into Justin Allgaier, who then bumped into Brennan Poole in second. Poole was pushed out of line and as Allgaier made an effort to pass Hill on the high side on the backstretch, he was blocked and then Hill dove down to block Anderson. The two drivers made contact, which propelled the RCR driver forward and out of reach.

“So as we kept getting closer and closer, I’m like, all right, it’s go time, it’s go time. We kept getting closer. We came off of Turn 2 on the back stretch there. I’m, like, Oh, this is it. It’s like the “Days of Thunder” moment. I thought the seas parted, and we had the steam and it just kind of ran out as I got to the 21 (Hill) there.”

The strong finish marked Anderson’s second top-five in two of the last three NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series season-openers. Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito Autosport is housing three full-time teams this season. Perkins kicked off the year with an eighth-place finish, and Jeb Burton scored stage points in Stage 2, but ultimately, he was caught up in a crash with just 19 laps to go and had to settle for a 27^th place finish.

“We keep working on growing this team every year,” Anderson said. “We have three cars full-time all season. This is just allowing me to connect back to why I love the sport, why I love NASCAR. A great way to kick off NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series there, their introduction to sport.

“This is a testament. Our guys work so hard all year. A lot of long hours. Chevrolet put a lot of effort in this program.”

Next weekend at EchoPark Speedway, Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito Autosport will have another opportunity to prevail in a pack-style race. Last year, Burton was in the mix to win the Bennett 250 as he finished sixth. Now that the team has the RCR alliance, look for all three cars to be in contention.

The Bennett 250 at EchoPark Speedway will broadcast live on the CW Network at 5 p.m. ET on Saturday, Feb. 21.

Photo Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images