Ryan Truex wins NASCAR Xfinity race at Daytona
Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Ryan Truex claimed his second NASCAR Xfinity Series win of the season – the second of his career – leading the field to the yellow and checkered flags on the final lap of overtime in Saturday night’s Wawa 250 Powered by Coca-Cola at Daytona International Speedway.
With very limited green flag runs and the pace interrupted all night with incidents, ultimately it was an accident among the front-running cars that ended the overtime period with Truex out front as he was so frequently through the night.
Running among that front group of cars, Parker Kligerman’s No. 48 Big Machine Racing Chevrolet hit the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet driven by A.J. Allmendinger from behind, sending Allmendinger’s Chevy hard into the wall bringing out the final caution and ending the night.
Truex, 32, the younger brother of NASCAR Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr., crossed the line just ahead of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Chandler Smith in the No. 81 JGR Toyota. Kligerman finished in third place. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Riley Herbst and RSS Racing’s Ryan Sieg rounded out the top five.
“Oh my gosh, thanks to these fans, it’s so amazing to race here,’’ said Truex, who is racing part-time this season but now has two wins in eight starts this season.
“Just thanks to these guys,’’ Truex, driver of the No. 20 JGR Toyota, said of his team. “I don’t get to race that often and I don’t know what I’m going to do next year. It’s all a work in progress. Just a great car [tonight].”
The veteran Allmendinger, who was running second at the time of his last lap accident, finished 24th. A frustrated Kligerman insisted he did not mean to wreck Allmendinger especially because the pair had worked well together throughout the race.
“I just had a run and I had to go, I felt it was the run I had to take to put myself on the bottom if I was going to win this race,’’ Kligerman added. “I love him like a brother, he and I have been in this a long time together.
In many ways, the ending was indicative of the whole evening – hard racing followed by the kind of contact so common at the famous 2.5-mile Daytona high banks.
Driver-owner Jordan Anderson, who competes part-time in the series and was making only his fourth start of year – finished sixth answering a fourth-place effort in the Daytona season-opener.
Justin Allgaier, who led a race best 35 laps, was seventh, followed by Sheldon Creed, Leland Honeyman and Kyle Weatherman.
The points standings were majorly affected with season-long leader, the defending NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Cole Custer losing the points lead to JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier, who won both stages.
Custer had a rough night, colliding with his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Herbst on pit road on the first pit stop – his No. 00 SHR Ford suffering damage that required attention the rest of the race and relegated him to a 32nd place finish. Custer, who held a 50-point advantage over Allgaier in the championship just two races ago, now trails Allgaier by 33 points with five races remaining to decide the regular season champion.
The other end of the current 12-driver Playoff field also featured a lot of important action. JR Motorsports’ Sammy Smith dropped out of the last Playoff position after being collected in a seven-car accident on Lap 26. Meanwhile, Sieg’s fifth place finish vaulted him inside the Playoff standings and he sits in that all-important 12th place position now – 15 points up on Smith.
Another championship favorite, Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill also took a big hit in the standings – his night tough even before the green flag flew to start the race. His No. 21 RCR Chevrolet had to pit for attention as cars were making pace laps and instead of starting on the outside of the front row where he qualified, he started from the rear of the field.
The precarious position ended up costing Hill immediately as he was collected in a multi-car accident on the very first lap of racing. After pitting throughout the night for repairs – and more repairs – he ultimately parked the car, finishing 34th. Now Hill, who won the opening two races of the season, is ranked fourth – more than 100 points behind Allgaier – heading into the final summer stretch before the Playoffs start.
The Xfinity Series will be heading to Darlington Raceway for the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200 on Sept. 7 (USA Network, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Denny Hamlin is the defending winner of the race. Justin Allgaier is the most recent winner at the track.
NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Number 22
Race Results for the Wawa 250 Powered by Coca-Cola - Friday, August 23, 2024
Daytona International Speedway - Daytona Beach, FL - 2.5 - Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 102 Laps - 255. Miles
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Friday, 8/23/2024 @ 10:15 PM Eastern
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 6 20 Ryan Truex Certified Collision Center Toyota 102 6 3 53 Running 6 28 5
2 1 81 Chandler Smith QuickTie Toyota 102 2 8 47 Running 3 15
3 12 48 Parker Kligerman Big Machine Spiked Coolers Chevrolet 102 5 6 45 Running
4 8 98 Riley Herbst Monster Energy Ford 102 2 42 Running 1 1
5 26 39 Ryan Sieg Sci Aps Ford 102 32 Running
6 25 32 Jordan Anderson Volpi Foods Chevrolet 102 31 Running
7 11 7 Justin Allgaier Hellmann's/Sam's Club Chevrolet 102 1 1 50 Running 2 16 2
8 7 18 Sheldon Creed Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Toyota 102 4 7 40 Running
9 20 42 Leland Honeyman # Cornerstone Produce Chevrolet 102 28 Running
10 18 91 Kyle Weatherman Wawa Chevrolet 102 27 Running
11 10 11 Josh Williams Alloy Employer Services Chevrolet 102 10 27 Running
12 4 19 Joe Graf Jr REAGAN The Movie Toyota 102 8 28 Running
13 38 1 Sam Mayer Carolina Carports Chevrolet 102 24 Running 1 7
14 29 29 Blaine Perkins Crocodile Cloth Ford 102 23 Running
15 34 28 Kyle Sieg North Country Ford Ford 102 22 Running
16 31 44 Brennan Poole CW & Sons/Clark's Chevrolet 102 21 Running
17 21 27 Jeb Burton State Water Heaters Chevrolet 102 5 26 Running
18 23 07 Patrick Emerling Flood Brothers Chevrolet 102 19 Running
19 30 14 CJ McLaughlin Main Street Auto Chevrolet 102 18 Running
20 35 53 Joey Gase Ford 102 17 Running
21 5 2 Jesse Love # Whelen/NFFF Chevrolet 102 16 Running
22 16 9 Brandon Jones Menards/Turtle Wax Chevrolet 102 9 17 Running
23 24 8 Sammy Smith Pilot Flying J Chevrolet 102 9 16 Running
24 3 16 AJ Allmendinger Campers Inn RV Chevrolet 102 3 4 28 Running 7 35
25 19 97 Shane Van Gisbergen # Safety Culture Chevrolet 101 12 Running
26 9 5 Anthony Alfredo Dude Wipes Chevrolet 101 7 15 Running
27 13 51 Jeremy Clements One Stop/All South Electric Chevrolet 101 10 11 Running
28 22 26 Jeffrey Earnhardt(i) ForeverLawn/Big Studios Toyota 99 0 Running
29 17 45 Caesar Bacarella Prime Bites Brownie Chevrolet 94 8 Accident
30 33 92 Josh Bilicki Wawa Chevrolet 94 7 Accident
31 2 21 Austin Hill Bennett/Global Industrial Chevrolet 79 6 Running
32 14 00 Cole Custer Fanttik Ford 77 5 DVP
33 28 38 Matt DiBenedetto ReMA Ford 76 4 Accident
34 15 31 Parker Retzlaff FUNKAWAY Chevrolet 76 3 Accident
35 37 74 Tim Viens AWS Roofing/Brand X Marine Chevrolet 15 2 Engine
36 27 15 Gus Dean Airbox Ford 4 1 Accident
37 36 43 Ryan Ellis Classic Collision Chevrolet 1 1 Accident
38 32 35 Akinori Ogata(i) YKK Chevrolet 0 0 Accident
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 10 Mins, 34 Secs. Average Speed: 117.182 MPH Margin of Victory: Under Caution
Stage 1 Top 10: 7, 81, 16, 18, 48, 20, 5, 19, 8, 51
Stage 2 Top 10: 7, 98, 20, 16, 27, 48, 18, 81, 9, 11
Caution Flags: 7 for 34 laps; Laps: 2-9 (#21, 43, 14, 51, 35, 29, 15, 26, 7 Incident Turn 3 [None]); 32-36 (Stage 1 Conclusion [None]); 60-65 (#1, 2, 5 Incident Turn 4 / Stage 2 Conclusion [00]); 70-73 (#9 Spin Backstretch [21]); 78-82 (#2, 00, 27, 31, 8, 9, 38, 45, 28 Incident Frontstretch [21]); 96-100 (#26, 51, 45, 92, 5, 97 Incident Turn 4 [Red Flag: 00:12:12] [8]); 102-102 (#16, 51 Incident Turn 1 [None]).
Lead Changes: 19 among 6 drivers; C. Smith 1-10; A. Allmendinger 11-14; C. Smith 15-18; A. Allmendinger 19-22; J. Allgaier 23-32; A. Allmendinger 33; S. Mayer 34-40; A. Allmendinger 41-51; R. Truex 52-55; J. Allgaier 56-61; R. Herbst 62; R. Truex 63-66; C. Smith 67; R. Truex 68-73; A. Allmendinger 74-75; R. Truex 76; A. Allmendinger 77-84; R. Truex 85-89; A. Allmendinger 90-94; R. Truex 95-102.
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race: August 31, 2024 - Darlington Raceway
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