Justin Allgaier and Sheldon Creed were neck and neck as they approached the finish line on Friday night at Daytona Int’l Speedway, but it was the JR Motorsports driver who pulled .005 seconds ahead and collected the victory.
The margin of victory is tied for the fourth-closest finish in NASCAR Xfinity Series history.
The Wawa 250 Powered by Coca-Cola was Allgaier’s second win of the season and the 21st of his career.
Kaulig Racing’s Daniel Hemric, Big Machine Racing’s Parker Kligerman and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Cole Custer survived the chaos to claim top-five finishes at the superspeedway.
How It Happened
After leading the field to the green from pole position, Hill cruised to the stage one win in his No. 21 Chevrolet.
A few laps into stage two, Creed passed Hill and kept tight control until lap 52, when Parker Kligerman launched to the front. However, his lead was short-lived, as Trevor Bayne powered to the lead during his first race back in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
The last laps of the stage featured a flurry of activity, as Kligerman fell to eighth, Hill was pushed back to the lead and Creed narrowly stole the stage two victory from his teammate.
Sam Mayer, Bayne, Allgaier and Creed each held the lead at one point or another in the final stage, with Bayne ultimately taking the advantage as they approached the 100-lap mark.
Chaos ensued on a lap-99 restart, when Hill drove up the track from fourth attempting to pass Bayne for the lead on the outside and the two cars hooked bumpers.
An 11-car accident followed, involving Bayne, Hill, Mayer, J.J. Yeley, Daniel Hemric, Chandler Smith, Sammy Smith, John Hunter Nemechek, Jeb Burton, Kaz Grala and Jeffrey Earnhardt.
During the first lap of overtime, Allgaier led the field to the green, with Kligerman, Creed and Hemric in tow.
However, the green wasn’t out for very long, as Blaine Perkins got loose and triggered an eight-car accident involving Josh Berry, Chandler Smith, Bayne, Nemechek, Brett Moffitt, Jeremy Clements and Josh Williams on lap 104.
On lap 110, Allgaier held off Creed by mere inches as the two came down the frontstretch and crossed the finish line under the lights at Daytona, with Creed coming up short.
Thirty different cars were involved in an incident during the race.