DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Teamwork made the dream work Saturday afternoon at Daytona Int’l Speedway.
Kaulig Racing teammates Justin Haley, A.J. Allmendinger and Jeb Burton took control of the NASCAR Xfinity Series Wawa 250 in the final laps, with Haley emerging from a three-wide battle coming out of turn four on the last lap to earn his first victory of the season.
“This has not been the best season. It’s been really, really hard on this No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection team all year. We’ve had a lot of bad luck,” Haley said as he fought back tears after emerging from his car at the start/finish line.
RESULTS: NASCAR Xfinity Series Wawa 250
It was all about teamwork for the Kaulig trio as they waited until the field roared out of turn four with five laps left to make what proved to be the move of the race.
With Christopher Bell leading Justin Allgaier in second, Allmendinger was running third with Jeb Burton in fifth and Justin Haley in sixth. Coming out of turn four all three Kaulig teammates dove to the bottom in unison.
First the trio dispatched Allgaier by jumping back to the outside, leaving Allgaier stranded on the bottom. Bell was able to hold off the Kaulig drivers until they got to the backstretch, with Allmendinger leading the charge to the bottom to take the lead away from Bell.
All three Kaulig cars dispatched Bell to take command of the race. With two laps left Bell tried to separate Haley from his teammates, only for the Kaulig trio to remain steadfast. Bell got a run down the backstretch and tried to stick to Allmendinger’s inside, but with no help Bell lost ground.
Coming out of turn four coming to the white flag the Kaulig cars remained in control of the race, though Allmendinger found himself with a large lead that left him open to a big run from the cars behind him.
Down the backstretch Allmendinger dove low to block a run by Bell, then went back to the top to pick up his teammate Burton. At that point team orders were out the window, with Burton working to Allmendinger’s inside and Haley roaring to the suddenly open top.
The Kaulig trio worked through turns three and four three-wide, with Haley on the top, Allmendinger in the middle and Burton on the bottom. Off of turn four Allmendinger had the lead, but Haley got a big push from Daniel Hemric to get to the finish line first.
The victory is Haley’s fourth in the Xfinity Series, all of which have come on superspeedways. It’s his third victory overall at Daytona, which includes a rain-shortened NASCAR Cup Series win in 2019.
“Hats off to Kaulig Racing. I think we’ve got the teammate thing down,” Haley said. “It’s so special to win here at Daytona. I’ve won here twice at Daytona and neither time did I get to see anyone in the frontstretch, so thank you guys for being here.
“That was a close one and to just beat out A.J. always means a lot too.”
Allmendinger finished second, with Allgaier narrowly edging Burton at the line to finish third. The runner-up finish for Allmendinger, combined with Austin Cindric failing to finish due to an early accident, catapulted him into the Xfinity Series regular season championship lead.
“That was like the perfect photo shoot coming across the line for all the Kaulig Racing Chevys,” Allmendinger said. “I was just hanging on in the middle there. I thought we might get it, but I’m proud of everyone at Kaulig Racing.”