The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)

WINNER: JUSTIN HALEY

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Coming to the checkered flag, Justin Haley nudged his No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet just ahead of his teammates A.J. Allmending­er and Jeb Burton in a thrilling three-wide finish in the Wawa 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Daytona Internatio­nal Speedway on Saturday afternoon.

The blink-of-an-eye .023-second victory marked the fourth superspeed­way victory for the 22-year-old Haley but his first win of the 2021 season. He has three wins on the Daytona high banks, also including one in a rain-shortened NASCAR Cup Series race here two years ago.

Allmending­er, who took the white flag in front of the field, may have just missed the race trophy, but he led the most laps on the day (30) and his runner-up effort was good enough to take the season driver standings lead by 17 points over defending series champion Austin Cindric, who was sidelined after a Lap 27 incident.

Although Haley and Allmending­er’s third Kaulig Racing teammate Jeb Burton made it a three-wide photo at the line, JR Motorsport­s driver Justin Allgaier actually nudged just ahead in the middle to officially take third place. Burton was credited with fourth place, followed by Joe Gibbs Racing’s Daniel Hemric, whose fifth-place finish was a massive comeback after his No. 18 was involved in the same early-race incident that took Cindric out.

NASCAR Cup Series regular Christophe­r Bell was sixth with Noah Gragson, Myatt Snider, Harrison Burton and Riley Herbst rounding out the top 10. Hemric, Harrison Burton and Haley all clinched spots in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs with their finishes.

“This has just not been the best season, it’s been really, really hard on this No. 11 Leaffilter team all year,” said an emotional Haley, who teared up in car congratula­ting his crew after the checkered flag. “We’ve had a lot of bad luck.

The first 19 laps of the 100-lapper ran on Friday night, but Florida rain showers forced the Saturday matinee. The competitio­n resumed, however, in the kind of typically flat-out, thrilling superspeed­way storyline that NASCAR fans have become accustomed to.

“That was like the perfect photo shoot right there coming across the line for all the Kaulig Racing Chevys,” Allmending­er said with a huge grin. “Proud of my ‘son’ Justin Haley. He might be one of the best we’ve ever seen on superspeed­ways and Jeb did a fantastic job.

Cindric, the defending Xfinity Series champion and a series best five-race winner in 2021, has led the series standings all season. But he was involved in a five-car accident toward the front of the field on Lap 26 that eliminated him from the race less than a half hour after it re-started.

Cindric’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford was hit from behind by Snider’s No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet entering Turn 1 sending a handful of cars into save-mode, with several suffering damage but returning to the race.

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