Justin Haley leads Kaulig 3-wide finish in Wawa 250

It was like a formation finish at Le Mans. Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway was dominated by the Kaulig Racing trio of A.J. Allmendinger, Jeb Burton, and Justin Haley as they swept the top three spots in each of the first two stages. On the final lap, the trio ran side-by-side and Haley edged out his partners in a three-wide finish to win his fourth superspeedway event and first of the year.

Coming off his third win of the season, Allmendinger started on the pole and traded the lead with Noah Gragson for nineteen laps before rain hit. Unable to resume, NASCAR pushed the race to Saturday hours before the Cup Series event. Allmendinger continued to lead on the restart with nine laps before the end of the stage as Haley and Burton followed. Five laps after the green, Austin Cindric was clipped by Myatt Snider and hit the outside wall on the frontstretch, and the ensuing ricochet forced Snider to check down and send Michael Annett and Sam Mayer spinning through the infield; Daniel Hemric also suffered damage in the accident as the stage ended under yellow. Haley took the lead before the crash and thus won the segment ahead of Allmendinger, Burton, Christopher Bell, Justin Allgaier, Brett Moffitt, Gragson, Caesar Bacarella, Brandon Brown, and Harrison Burton.

Riley Herbst and Brown opened Stage #2 in the lead, though debris from Annett’s car resulted in a caution after three laps. Herbert continued to hold the top position ahead of *de facto* Stewart-Haas Racing team-mate Chase Briscoe on the restart. Brown passed him with Allmendinger in tow on lap 44, though he went to the outside and surrendered the spot a lap later. Bacarella’s car lost a left rear body part on lap 48 to warrant another debris yellow. Brown fell back after running out of fuel, while Kaulig once again finished 1–2–3 in the stage as Burton led Allmendinger, Haley, Herbst, Bell, Gragson, Hemric, Allgaier, Briscoe, and Mayer.

The final stage commenced with Bell and Gragson battling for the lead, and the latter would clear him on lap 66 as the field organised into single file. Colin Garrett spun off turn four on lap 71 and became beached in the wet infield grass for the next caution. Another Gragson/Bell front row paced the field to the restart with 23 laps left, and a good push allowed Bell to hold the lead. On lap 82, Bacarella was clipped on the backstretch by Jordan Anderson and hit the outside wall with Matt Mills and Jade Buford also going around. Joe Gibbs Racing team-mates Bell and Harrison Burton led another restart with 14 to go and the former won out.

The race ran single file until Allmendinger and the Kaulig camp surged to the front with three laps remaining. Burton and Haley caught their ally and sandwiched him with drafting help from Bell and Hemric, respectively, while Allgaier pushed Allmendinger. Riding the high line, Haley beat Allmendinger and Burton to the line by .023 of a second.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	9	11	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	100	Running
2	1	16	A.J. Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	100	Running
3	4	7	Justin Allgaier	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	100	Running
4	13	10	Jeb Burton	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	100	Running
5	21	18	Daniel Hemric	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	100	Running
6	15	54	Christopher Bell*	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	100	Running
7	2	9	Noah Gragson	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	100	Running
8	23	2	Myatt Snider	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	100	Running
9	5	20	Harrison Burton	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	100	Running
10	6	98	Riley Herbst	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	100	Running
11	7	02	Brett Moffitt	Our Motorports	Chevrolet	100	Running
12	22	8	Sam Mayer	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	100	Running
13	34	17	J.J. Yeley	SS-Green Light Racing	Chevrolet	100	Running
14	32	61	David Starr	MBM Motorsports	Toyota	100	Running
15	35	66	Jason White	MBM Motorsports	Ford	100	Running
16	11	39	Ryan Sieg	RSS Racing	Ford	100	Running
17	17	92	Josh Williams	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	100	Running
18	12	44	Tommy Joe Martins	Martins Motorsports	Chevrolet	100	Running
19	37	99	Chase Briscoe*	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Ford	100	Running
20	27	0	Jeffrey Earnhardt	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	100	Running
21	26	4	Landon Cassill	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	100	Running
22	18	31	Jordan Anderson*	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	100	Running
23	29	23	Blaine Perkins	Our Motorports	Chevrolet	100	Running
24	8	51	Jeremy Clements	Jeremy Clements Racing	Chevrolet	100	Running
25	30	78	Mason Massey	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Toyota	100	Running
26	33	15	Colby Howard	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	100	Running
27	24	6	Ryan Vargas	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	100	Running
28	10	48	Jade Buford	Big Machine Racing	Chevrolet	100	Running
29	40	74	Tim Viens*	Mike Harmon Racing	Chevrolet	100	Running
30	19	1	Michael Annett	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	100	Running
31	25	36	Alex Labbé	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	100	Running
32	28	47	Kyle Weatherman	Mike Harmon Racing	Chevrolet	98	Running
33	16	5	Matt Mills	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Toyota	98	Running
34	31	68	Brandon Brown	Brandonbilt Motorsports	Chevrolet	97	Running
35	39	07	Joe Graf Jr.	SS-Green Light Racing	Chevrolet	88	Accident
36	36	90	Caesar Bacarella	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	82	Accident
37	20	26	Colin Garrett	Sam Hunt Racing	Toyota	71	Accident
38	38	52	Spencer Boyd*	Jimmy Means Racing	Chevrolet	71	Engine
39	14	22	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	27	Accident
40	3	19	Brandon Jones	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	17	Engine