This weekend at Daytona was nothing short of exciting as the Xfinity series battled in one of the last 3 races before the playoffs begin. AJ Almendinger started the race first with a competition caution scheduled at lap 15. He stormed past the pack with a push from the 7 car of Justin Allgaier, then moved down to the bottom lane to block Gragson in the 9 car. On lap 4, Gragson slid in front of Almendinger to take the lead, only to lose the lead to Almendinger again one lap later.
Brandon Jones struggles with overheating issues while dealing with debris on his grill, forcing him to pit and remove it. Despite the water spewing from their engine, they did not add more during the pit stop. The competition caution comes out at lap 15 and several cars elect not to pit, including AJ Almendinger, while the rest take four tires and Jones adds water to the engine. On lap 19, the red flag came out for rain and the race was postponed until the next day at 12:30 Saturday.
The race restarts Saturday with Almendinger and Gibbs in the front row. The 16 holds the lead while Gibbs falls back to 6th and the top 6 lines up single file and stays that way until lap 25. The caution comes out on lap 27 when the 2 pushes the 22 of Austin Cindric into the wall. The 22 is unable to finish the race, thus giving Almendinger a run at the regular-season championship. The 11 of Justin Haley wins the stage under caution and all the leaders pit. The 98 of Riley Herbst starts on the inside with the 99 on the outside. The bottom lane gathers some speed being lead by the 68 and the 68 moves up to take the lead. Almendinger fights to the front laps later being pushed by Allgaier and Gragson and retakes the lead.
Bacarella loses his rear fender on the front stretch after contact with the 23 of White. The caution comes out and the leaders pit. The 68 of Brandon Brown restarted in the lead with Herbst on the outside. Jeb Burton takes the lead while the three Kaulig cars take the high lane. Brown slows on the track after running out of fuel but avoids a caution as he makes it to pit road. Burton continues to lead with Gragson in second and goes on to win stage 2. All cars pit except for Gibbs, Gragson, Allgaier, and Harrison Burton. Four cars take tires, while the other drivers decide on fuel only.
Gibbs leads the field back to green with Gragson in second and both lines stay even with JGR teammates in the top lane and JRM lined up on the bottom line. Gragson takes the lead from Gibbs after a push from teammate Allgaier and Allgaier loses his position after being alone in the low lane, causing him to fall back to 6th. The 9 car gets debris on his grill while in the lead and the 26 and 15 spin, while neither car hits anything and the caution comes out. Gragson uses the pace car to remove the debris from his grill and restarts in first with Gibbs beside him. Gibbs side drafts Gragson with a push from Jeb Burton and takes the lead from the 9 while the top 7 follow single file in the top lane.
The 90 of Bacarella hits the outside wall after contact with Jordan Anderson. The 5, 44, and 48 are also involved in the wreck and the caution comes out. Only the 99 pits and gets 4 tires. Gibbs restarts in the lead with Jeb Burton beside him in second, both getting pushed by JRM. The 07 of Joe Graf Jr. starts smoking but gets to the apron and the race remains green. Jeb Burton has issues with the dashboard in fifth. Gibbs continues to lead as the Kaulig Racing cars line up in second through fourth. Almendinger passes Gibbs for the lead and Jeb Burton takes second with Justin Haley in third. Gibbs comes back to challenge for the lead, but is blocked by Almendinger. The 10 car pushes Almendinger and Haley in the 11 goes around to the top lane. The cars come to the start-finish three-wide with all three Kaulig cars leading a lane. Justin Haley wins, earning his second checkered flag of the season and Almendinger takes over the regular-season championship lead from Austin Cindric.
