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.