Race report
NASCAR Cup Daytona II
Justin Haley earns shock Cup win in rain-shortened Daytona race
The final July 4 weekend Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Daytona produced a shocking winner.
Jim Utter
Edited: Jul 9, 2019, 7:36 PM
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A 17-car wreck on Lap 118 of a scheduled 160, considerably narrowed the list of contenders for the win in Sunday’s rain-delayed Coke Zero Sugar 400, but when the race was finally called for weather after 127 laps it was Xfinity Series driver Justin Haley who earned the win.
After the wreck, Kurt Busch emerged as the leader but elected to pit under caution. Just as he and others headed down pit road, lightning strikes within an 8-mile radius of the track placed the race under a red-flag.
Busch pitting had moved Haley’s No. 77 Chevrolet – typically a back-marker in most races – into the top spot.
Since the race never restarted and two stages had been completed to make the event official, Haley was declared the winner.
“It’s absolutely a blessing. It’s pretty incredible that I have so many great people around me that have given me this opportunity to come to this level and the stage that we’re performing on,” Haley said after the race was declared official.
“Obviously Todd (Braun) and my family have done a great job but the Fraternal Order of Eagles, everyone at FOE, who has given me this opportunity with Spire Motorsports, it’s truly a blessing.
“I never even saw myself running a Cup race until I got a call a few months ago to do Talladega, and it’s just unreal. I don’t know how to feel.”
Haley said he never imagined getting the opportunity to compete in the Cup series, let alone pick up a victory in it.
“The stars aligned, and I didn't ever think I was going to get redemption back from a few years back in Daytona, last year at Daytona when I got the Xfinity win taken away from me,” he said.
“To come back and get redemption in the Cup Series is pretty cool, and it makes that second‑place finish with Kaulig Friday night a lot better.”
Since Haley competes fulltime in the Xfinity Series he will not be eligible to compete in the Cup series playoffs with the victory. It will be difficult For Spire Motorsports to qualify for the owners’ championship since it is far outside the Top 30 in points.
In the offseason, Spire Motorsports bought the charter of Furniture Row Racing’s No. 77 team after it decided to shut down. It runs its Cup program out of Premium Motorsports.
Haley, 20, is a fulltime competitor in the Xfinity Series with Kaulig Racing. He won four races in the Truck Series last season and finished third in the series standings.
One year ago, he lost the July Xfinity race at Daytona when he was penalized for passing for the lead after going below the double yellow line, handing the win to Kyle Larson.
William Byron ended up finishing second Sunday at Daytona, Jimmie Johnson third, Ty Dillon fourth and Ryan Newman completed the top-five.
Rounding out the top-10 were Corey LaJoie, Aric Almirola, Matt DiBenedetto, Matt Tifft and Kurt Busch.
Beginning next year, Daytona's second Cup race will serve as the regular season finale while Indianapolis Motor Speedway will take over the July 4 weekend date.
Stage 3
Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, all of the lead-lap cars elected to pit and Joey Logano was the first off pit road thanks to a two-tire pit stop.
On the restart on Lap 106, Joey Logano was followed by Newman, Erik Jones, Austin Dillon and Chase Elliott.
Newman briefly took the lead on the restart only to see Austin Dillon reclaim it with a shove from Logano before the completion of the first green lap.
With 50 laps to go, Logano moved head on the outside line to reclaim the lead.
A three-wide move off Lap 112 put Paul Menard into the lead and when the cars entered Turn 1 on Lap 113, Denny Hamlin powered into the top spot.
With 45 laps remaining, Hamlin maintain a small advantage over Austin Dillon with Jones running close behind in third.
On Lap 118, Austin Dillon appeared to try to blocking an advance from Bowyer entering Turn 1 which erupted into an incident that collected at least 17 cars.
Among the others collected were Hamlin, Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Larson, Alex Bowman, Jones, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Paul Menard, Logano and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
“He just kept coming down to try to block,” said Bowyer of Austin Dillon. “What can you do? That was pretty foolish, a mess that (Dillon) created.”
Kurt Busch emerged as the leader following the massive wreck but elected to pit. Just before the race was going to restart, it was red-flagged with lightning strikes took place within 8 miles of the track.
At the time of the red flag, Haley, was in the lead, followed by Byron, Johnson, Ty Dillon and Newman.
The red flag was close to being lifted after about an hour delay but lightning was reported again within an 8-mile radius, which forced another 30-minute delay.
NASCAR finally called the race just after 5:30 p.m. ET when a severe thunderstorm drenched the track with heavy rain.
Read Also:
Cla # Driver Manufacturer Laps Time Laps Led 1 77 
Justin Haley Chevrolet 127 1 2 24 William Byron Chevrolet 127 132'26.315 3 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 127 132'26.924 4 13 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 127 132'27.294 5 6 Ryan Newman Ford 127 132'27.715 6 32 Corey Lajoie Ford 127 132'28.101 7 10 Aric Almirola Ford 127 132'28.727 8 95 Matt DiBenedetto Toyota 127 132'28.728 1 9 36 Matt Tifft Ford 127 132'28.729 10 1 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 127 132'28.730 8 11 00 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 127 132'28.731 12 52 J.J. Yeley Ford 127 132'28.732 13 34 Michael McDowell Ford 127 132'28.733 14 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 127 132'28.734 3 15 43 Darrell Wallace Jr. Chevrolet 127 132'31.586 16 21 Paul Menard Ford 127 132'33.662 1 17 37 Chris Buescher Chevrolet 127 132'34.352 1 18 8 Daniel Hemric Chevrolet 127 132'35.393 19 62 Brendan Gaughan Chevrolet 126 1 lap 20 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 126 1 lap 21 88 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 126 1 lap 22 19 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 126 1 lap 23 20 Erik Jones Toyota 125 2 laps 24 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 125 2 laps 2 25 22 Joey Logano Ford 125 2 laps 41 26 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 125 2 laps 5 27 53 Joey Gase Chevrolet 125 2 laps 28 51 B.J. McLeod Ford 124 3 laps 29 4 Kevin Harvick Ford 124 3 laps 12 30 27 Ross Chastain Chevrolet 122 5 laps 31 96 Parker Kligerman Toyota 121 6 laps 32 47 Ryan Preece Chevrolet 119 1 33 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 118 46 34 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 118 3 35 9 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 118 3 36 12 Ryan Blaney Ford 118 1 37 15 Quin Houff Chevrolet 108 19 laps 38 38 David Ragan Ford 86 41 laps 39 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 85 42 laps 40 41 
Daniel Suarez Ford 83
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