Justin Haley won Friday night’s Xfinity Series race at Daytona after his teammates, AJ Allmendinger and Ross Chastain, wrecked racing for the lead on the final lap in Turns 3 and 4.
It is Haley’s second win of the year after he won at Talladega.
Allmendinger was leading when Chastain made a move to pass him on the inside. They made contact and started a chain reaction. Austin Cindric and Michael Annett were also involved.
The night was dominated by Kaulig Racing, with Haley winning Stage 1 and Allmendinger claiming Stage 2. The team led 68 of 100 laps.
“An amazing effort by Kaulig Racing,” Haley told NBCSN. “Obviously, I hate that AJ and Ross got together there. ... Parked it right here on the double yellow line where I went down too low about two years (and was disqualified from a win) in a Xfinity race. A little humor there.”
Chastain wound up finishing sixth.
“It’s terrible to run into your teammate like that,” Chastain told NBCSN. “Must be my fault, though. It’s unfortunate, we did everything right all night. We just got to win. ... Did everything right to be the the best teammate I could. I haven’t always been. Last lap, I don’t back down and I’m going to go for it. ... I hate it, man! It’s not going to help me moving forward.”
Allmendinger finished 15th after leading a race-high 58 laps. He said Chastain’s move was fair.
“I try to take care of my teammates, but it is what it is, it’s for the win,” Allmendginer told NBCSN. “Ross is going for the championship and going for a win there. I saw him get low and I thought maybe he’d take care of me a little bit considering I was there. But he’s going for the win.”
The top five was made up of Haley, Gray Gaulding, Chase Briscoe, Riley Herbst and Harrison Burton.
STAGE 1 WINNER: Justin Haley won in a one-lap shootout
STAGE 2 WINNER: AJ Allmendinger passed Gray Gaulding on the last lap to win the stage.
WHO HAD A GOOD RACE: Gray Gaulding has finished in the top 10 in his last four superspeedway starts, including runner-ups in two of them ... Riley Herbst bounced back from aa pass-through penalty at the start of the race to earn his third top five of the season ... Josh Williams finish ninth for his third top 10 of the season.
WHO HAD A BAD RACE: Joe Graf Jr. was eliminated when he was in an early wreck with Jeffrey Earnhardt and Caesar Bacarella ... Bacarella was then eliminated when he wrecked on Lap 14 ... Earnhardt was involved in a wreck on Lap 25 with Kody Vanderwal, which eliminated both ... Noah Gragson’s night ended early following a large wreck on Lap 40 that involved Justin Allgaier, Brandon Jones, Daniel Hemric, Brett Moffitt and Anthony Alfredo ... Allgaier and Brandon Brown were eliminated on the ensuing restart when Allgaier cut a tire and spun, causing an incident that included Brown and Jeremy Clements.
WHAT’S NEXT: Race at Darlington Raceway, 12:30 p.m. ET Sept. 5 on NBC
