Reed avoids crashes to win Xfinity race
The driver outlasts Kahne and Dillon for his second career victory at Daytona.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — There were dings and there were dents and there was plenty of tape to go around, but somehow Ryan Reed survived three major wrecks to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series Powershares QQQ 300 Saturday at Daytona International Speedway.
Reed outlasted Kasey Kahne and Austin Dillon in a green-white-checkered finish. It was his second career victory at Daytona.
Thirty-five of the 40 cars that qualified for the race were involved in the wrecks, including Reed’s, as the race saw 10 cautions and two red flag stops that totaled almost 46 minutes.
“I ran a Cup race last year at Talladega and I learned so much from that and I tried to apply everything I learned and take a chance,” Reed said following the win. “It was a gamble, but if you’re going to gamble, you might as well gamble on a win.”
“I was pretty lucky. Our Hellmann’s Chevrolet was fast, so we ran up front a majority of the race and the wrecks were behind us,” Kahne said of the race.
“It was wild for sure,” Dillon added.
Under NASCAR’s new championship points system this season, races are divided into three stages — with a playoff point awarded to the winner of the first two stages, and the race winner receiving five points.
Elliott Sadler won the first two of the three stages and appeared to have the best car on the day but was involved in the final wreck, which knocked him out of the race late.
Reed earned 47 points for the win.
Most of the drivers didn’t feel there was much difference in how they approached racing under the new points system.
“I never really felt the stages,” said Kahne. “It seemed liked the wrecks came prior enough. I wasn’t racing for points but I was still racing to lead the stages if possible.”
Reed earned a spot on the front row in qualifying, starting next to pole-sitter Brandon Jones. Despite the early positioning, Jones was overtaken by the No. 22 Ford of Brad Keselowski. The NASCAR Cup series driver led for the first 10 laps before falling back into the pack.
The first major wreck of the day took place on Lap 25 when the No. 42 Chevrolet of Tyler Reddick was clipped by the No. 24 Toyota of Scott Lagasse Jr., sending Reddick spinning into the wall on Turn 2. The crash affected 18 drivers, sending some cars to the pits while bringing out the third caution of the day and a red flag stop.
After a nearly 20-minute stoppage, the race got underway again but four laps later saw another huge crash. This one began when Daniel Hemric pushed the No. 7 Chevrolet of Justin Allgaier up into Jones, bringing out another red flag and temporarily stopping the race. The fourth caution of the day involved 12 cars.
Twenty-seven cars were involved in the two wrecks.
Sadler would wind up in the third major wreck with 17 laps remaining, spinning out into the grass in the back straightaway — taking with him a handful of cars.