If you went looking through the history books of NASCAR’s top-three series, you would be hard-pressed to find another race that had finishing results that looked as abnormal as they did Saturday Morning at Daytona International Speedway.
In what was a clear race of attrition, Jeremy Clements was able to walk away with his second career victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, after inheriting the lead through the misfortune of leaders Austin Hill and AJ Allmendinger.
Timmy Hill, driving the No. 13 for MBM Motorsports, matched a career-high result with a second-place finish in Friday’s/Saturday’s Wawa 250, with AJ Allmendinger coming home in third place.
Brandon Brown was able to rebound from being involved in multiple crashes late in the race to finish in fourth, while Sage Karam was able to score the first top-five and top-10 in the history of Alpha Prime Racing, in fifth.
Ryan Vargas, Ty Gibbs, Alex Labbe, JJ Yeley, and Kyle Sieg rounded out what can only be considered an attention-grabbing top-10. Sitting just outside the top-10 was Jesse Iwuji, who picked up a career-best of 11th.
Noah Gragson, who led a race-high 52 laps, finished in 22nd place, after being collected in a massive accident in NASCAR Overtime, when his car got turned in front of the pack, collecting numerous others.
The 118-lap event featured a total of 10 cautions, which accounted for 41 laps, including a number of multi-car accidents, as well as significant impacts. In the end, only 20 cars were running at the finish, with only 15 cars on the lead lap.
With only three races until the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs, Jeremy Clements’ victory has thrown quite the curveball into things, locking him a spot into the series’ seven-race post-season.
At the bubble, Landon Cassill holds a 12-point advantage over Ryan Sieg for the final spot in the Playoffs, as the battle has realistically expanded from a two-car battle to being a battle between Daniel Hemric (+33), Landon Cassill (+12), Ryan Sieg (-12), and Sheldon Creed (-55).
Up next for the NASCAR Xfinity Series is Darlington Raceway, as the series continues to approach the end of the regular season and begin its quest to crown a champion for the 2022 season.
