When the NASCAR Xfinity Series makes their four annual trips to races on a superspeedway, there is no question that you’ll see Kaulig Racing’s entries be the class of the field, while also strategically working together to ensure that their cars are near the front when its time to collect a trophy. Saturday Afternoon’s Wawa 250 at Daytona International Speedway was no exception, with Justin Haley making a last lap pass to capture his fourth career victory on a superspeedway.
It came down to the wire on the final lap, with Haley edging out teammate AJ Allmendinger by 0.023 seconds for the victory, with Jeb Burton rounding out the Kaulig trio in fourth-place. The finish was so close, that all of the top-five finished within a tenth of a second. The best part? All of the drivers in the lead pack for the final restart, made it to the end without an accident.
Video: Justin Haley Prevails In Wild Three-Wide Finish For Kaulig Racing in Xfinity Race at Daytona
Justin Allgaier finished behind the Kauling Racing duo of Justin Haley and AJ Allmendinger, with Jeb Burton in fourth and Daniel Hemric in 5th. Christopher Bell, Noah Gragson, Myatt Snider, Harrison Burton, and Riley Herbst rounded out the top-10.
The first 19 laps of the event were run on Friday Night, with the remaining portion of the event being postponed to Saturday Afternoon due to inclement weather. The race’s remaining 81 laps were run with only six caution flags, with three multi-car accidents happening throughout the day.
After only seven laps of green flag racing on Saturday, an aggressive bumpdraft by Myatt Snider turned NASCAR Xfinity Series points leader Austin Cindric in front of the 20-plus car pack, causing minor damage to Michael Annett, Daniel Hemric and Sam Mayer, as well as Cindric and Snider. Cindric was unable to continue and would finish in 39th, while Snider and Hemric were able to rebound to top-10 results.
As a result of Cindric’s poor finish, Kaulig Racing’s AJ Allmendinger has been able to snatch the lead in the regular season championship battle by 17 markers over the Team Penske driver, with Justin Allgaier, Daniel Hemric and Harrison Burton rounding out the top-five in season standings. By virtue of their points totals, both Daniel Hemric and Harrison Burton have officially clinched spots into the series’ playoffs.