Justin Allgaier overcomes inspection violation, pass-through penalty at Daytona

Here are some takeaways from a wild night at Daytona International Speedway.

The pros and cons of repeat winners

There has not been a new winner in the Xfinity Series since Sam Mayer broke through in the July 29 race at Road America. This has benefited some winless drivers considering that they have not had to worry about playoff spots disappearing.

The lack of new winners has also been an issue for some drivers that have lost points with regularity. This includes Brandon Jones and Riley Herbst, who both have playoff appearances on their resumes. They are both running out of time to win their way into the playoffs.

Jones, in particular, entered his first season with JR Motorsports with five career wins and plans to secure even more after taking over the No. 9 Chevrolet. He has not been able to achieve this goal while being involved in multiple on-track incidents.

The race at Daytona was the latest example. Jones crashed after contact with Anthony Alfredo, and he finished 36th. He also fell to 89 points below the cutline with two races remaining.

The positive for Jones is that he has success at the next two tracks. He won at Darlington in 2020. He won at Kansas in 2019 and 2020. NBC Sports’ Brad Daugherty also predicted before Watkins Glen last week that Jones will punch his ticket to the playoffs with a win at Kansas.

Herbst is not in a must-win position like Jones despite back-to-back races with issues. He was able to finish the Daytona race after falling three laps down with steering and tire issues that led to significant damage on the No. 98 Ford. He is only 20 points back of the playoff cutline.

Herbst remains winless in his Xfinity career, but he has two top-five finishes at Darlington in seven starts. He has one top-10 finish at Kansas in four starts.

Jordan Anderson wants more racing opportunities

Jordan Anderson made his return to the Xfinity Series for the first time since 2021 and he made his first national series start since a fiery crash in the Truck Series race at Talladega last fall.

Anderson had a difficult start to his weekend. An inspection violation led to him starting at the rear of the field and serving a pass-through penalty on the opening lap. Fellow Jordan Anderson Racing drivers Jeb Burton and Parker Retzlaff were in the same situation.

Starting at the rear of the field hurt the trio during stage 1, but its members were all able to get back in the middle of the pack for the final two stages. Though the night remained eventful.

Jeb Burton spun and hit the wall after losing control of the No. 22. He finished 12th after his team made repairs on pit road. Retzlaff spun on pit road but recovered and finished sixth. He has finished seventh or better in every superspeedway race this season.

Anderson was involved in one multi-car crash after stopping on pit road for a battery change. He then crashed on the final lap of double overtime.

Despite the setbacks, Anderson still finished 15th in his return to the Xfinity Series. He left Daytona satisfied. He also realized that he has a desire to continue making starts in NASCAR.

“I miss it,” Anderson told NBC Sports’ Dustin Long after the race. “It’s hard not to be out here every week, and today was kind of a reminder of... I’m going to have to hustle a little harder to maybe find me some sponsorship to come run five or six (races) next year.”

Checkers or wreckers

Trevor Bayne made his return to the Xfinity Series at Daytona. He drove the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, and he led 26 laps. This was the second-most behind Austin Hill’s 36.

Bayne ran inside of the top 10 all night long, and he put himself in position to fight for the win late. However, he crashed with two laps remaining in regulation after moving to block Austin Hill on the restart.

When asked about the restart crash, Bayne explained how the situation unfolded: “When we chose lanes, I knew the 21 (Austin Hill) behind me was a worst case scenario. He’s really aggressive. I knew he was going to pull of out lane as soon as he had a chance. Of course, he did.

“He pushed me, and when he got to my bumper and turned out of line, it got me kind of loose and I went up for the block and just got hooked. I could have stayed down probably, maybe, could have done something different there, but definitely would have lost the race either way, once he got me loose like that. Had to go for it.”

Bayne had a car capable of winning. He finished 29th. He didn’t get the finish that he sought, but he left Daytona feeling that he had a great day overall. Now, he has two more starts to pursue a win.

“Just thankful to be here. Thankful for the opportunity that He Gets Us gave me to run this race. Hopefully, we showed them that we mean business.”

There are four spots remaining in the playoff picture heading into the final two races of the Xfinity Series regular season.

There was not a repeat winner at Daytona, so four drivers are currently in on points. However, a change has taken place on the bubble after an unexpected issue on the No. 98 team.

Here are the points reports:

Click here for the driver standings l Click here for the team owner standings

Riley Herbst entered the Friday race three points to the good. He was in the final playoff spot while Parker Kligerman was three points below the cutline.

Herbst finished 24th and three laps down after a steering issue compounded by a flat tire that destroyed the left front fender of the No. 98. Kligerman finished fourth after scoring three points in stage 2.

Kligerman is now 20 points above the cutline while Herbst is the first driver out with two races remaining in the regular season.

Sheldon Creed, who was 22 points above the cutline, is now 60 points up after scoring 19 points in the first two stages. He actually moved three points ahead of Daniel Hemric, who finished third.

Josh Berry remains solidly above the playoff cutline. He is 110 points to the good after sliding through the grass on the final lap of the race and finishing 17th.

The battle for the regular-season championship has also taken an interesting turn after Daytona. Austin Hill and John Hunter Nemechek were separated by nine points heading to the superspeedway. Allgaier was 34 points back.

Hill finished 23rd and Nemechek finished 28th after they were both involved in incidents. Hill was able to keep his lead after scoring 19 stage points.

Allgaier has now moved into second place after winning at Daytona. He is 27 points back of Hill while Nemechek is 28 points back.

There are two races remaining to determine the 12-driver playoff field. The Xfinity Series teams will head to Darlington Raceway and Kansas Speedway to close out the regular season.

Justin Allgaier led 14 laps and won at Daytona. Sheldon Creed finished second.

Click here for where everyone finished at Daytona.

Click here for the cumulative race report.

Click here for the penalty report.

Justin Allgaier has held off the field at Daytona International Speedway.

The JR Motorsports driver led the field to the green flag for the start of overtime attempt No. 2. He had Parker Kligerman next to him on the outside. Daniel Hemric and Sheldon Creed were behind them on the second row.

The drivers completed one lap and they took the white flag as Kaz Grala spun at the bottom of the track. The race remained green as the Sam Hunt Racing driver made it back to pit road.

Despite dealing with sparks flying from the bottom of the No. 7, Allgaier continued to lead on the final lap. However, Creed pulled up next to him on the outside and took the lead.

Creed was not able to clear, so the two Chevrolet drivers took part in drag race to the checkered flag. Allgaier won by 0.005 seconds, and he finally celebrated his first career superspeedway win.

The Xfinity Series drivers will have to line up for another attempt at overtime after a late wreck collected several drivers.

The field lined up for the first attempt at overtime after a crash collected Austin Hill, Trevor Bayne and several others. They did not make it to the white flag.

Contact between Blaine Perkins and Josh Williams sent both drivers spinning toward the outside wall. Williams went directly into the path of John Hunter Nemechek where contact from the No. 20 lifted his No. 92 into the air. The Chevrolet landed back on all four tires.

The incident also collected Josh Berry, Bayne, Jeremy Clements, and Jordan Anderson. Kaz Grala avoided being collected by Berry.

The field lined up for the restart at Daytona International with two laps remaining. They did not make it through Turn 1.

An aggressive move started the wreck. Austin Hill dove to the outside of Trevor Bayne, who appeared to move to block. Bayne hit the outside wall while Chandler Smith spun into Sam Mayer and John Hunter Nemechek after contact from Hill.

Bayne collected John Hunter Nemechek while spinning toward the inside wall. Hill hit Sammy Smith. There were multiple others involved including Jeffrey Earnhardt, JJ Yeley, Kaz Grala, Blaine Perkins and Daniel Hemric.

Bayne said over the radio that he wasn’t trying to block Hill. He added that their bumpers were locked, which turned him when Hill moved to the outside.

The caution flag has flown with eight laps remaining at Daytona International Speedway. This was only the second for cause.

Jeb Burton lost control while racing inside of the top 10. He slid back and forth and nearly saved the car, but he spun toward the inside wall. He made minor contact and was able to head back to pit road for fresh tires.

While Burton avoided significant damage, there were issues for other cars as the field checked up. Justin Haley, Ryan Ellis and Caesar Bacarella all sustained damage.

Bacarella hit Haley from behind, which sent it spinning toward the inside wall. Ellis also spun to the inside of Haley, and he hit the wall hard.

The Xfinity Series drivers have completed 90 laps at Daytona. Only 10 laps are left at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.

There have been multiple drivers that have led during the final stage. Sheldon Creed, Trevor Bayne, Sam Mayer and Justin Allgaier have all spent time at the front of the pack. Bayne, in particular, spent time blocking two lanes simultaneously.

Bayne and Creed continue to lead the two rows at Daytona as the drivers behind them try to prepare for the final run to the checkered flag. None are able to gain a clear advantage.

Sheldon Creed has locked up his fourth stage win of the year after a hectic few laps at Daytona International Speedway.

Trevor Bayne was in the lead with five laps in the stage, but he lost it after getting put in the middle of three-wide. He had Richard Childress Racing cars on his outside and Parker Kligerman on his inside.

Creed jumped to the lead after getting a push from Austin Hill, but he did not have this spot for very long. Hill made a move of his own to pass his teammate and take the lead once again.

Creed then dove to the inside after a push from Daniel Hemric, but he was not able to clear Hill. The two RCR drivers then continued to battle for the lead over the final two laps before Creed dove to the inside once again and won a drag race to the start-finish line.

Creed and Hill have each scored 19 stage points at Daytona, putting them in a tie for the most in the Xfinity Series. They each have a playoff point.

Over on the playoff bubble, Parker Kligerman finished the stage eighth and scored three points. Riley Herbst remains in 32nd and three laps behind the leaders.

Brandon Jones entered the Friday night race at Daytona sitting 61 points below the cutline. Now he is in a must-win situation after a big wreck at Daytona.

The incident began after Anthony Alfredo got loose. He moved up the race track as Jones moved down. This contact sent Jones into the side of Brett Moffitt. They both hit the wall and collected multiple other drivers.

Joe Graf Jr. was one of the drivers involved. He slid back up onto the track and directly into the path of Jones’ No. 9. This collision ended Jones’ race, but Graf was able to make it back onto pit road.

Other drivers involved were Connor Mosack, Alex Guenette, Jordan Anderson, Natalie Decker, Ryan Sieg, Justin Haley and Kyle Weatherman.

Austin Hill started from the pole at Daytona on Friday evening. He dominated the first stage and easily locked up a playoff point.

Teammate Sheldon Creed finished second and locked up nine points as he continued to put distance between himself and the playoff cutline.

Chandler Smith, Brett Moffitt, Anthony Alfredo, Daniel Hemric, Brandon Jones, Jeremy Clements, Cole Custer and Trevor Bayne rounded out the top 10.

Parker Kligerman missed out on stage points, but he gained an advantage on Riley Herbst. He ended the stage in the 12th position. Herbst ended the stage on pit road with heavy damage to the left side of his No. 98 Ford.

Herbst had complained about steering issues early in the stage. He fell to the 31st position and continued to race. However, the NBC Sports cameras showed him slowly moving down pit road and dragging the left front fender as Hill took the green and white checkered flag.

He fell three laps down as the team made repairs, which dropped him below the playoff cutline as the race continued.

Riley Herbst lined up 16th for Friday night’s race at Daytona International. He worked his way up inside of the top 10, but the situation quickly changed.

Herbst came over the radio early in the first stage, and he said that he had steering issues. He first thought that it was simply the difference between the Xfinity and Cup Series cars, but he continued to provide updates.

As Herbst said, the orange stripe on his steering wheel was in the wrong position. He also said that he was sure that something had broken. The issues included a lack of power steering.

Herbst entered the race only three points above the playoff cutline. He needed a solid night to keep ahead of Parker Kligerman, but the steering issues hurt his postseason hopes.

The Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway is underway after pole-sitter Austin Hill and teammate Sheldon Creed led the field to the green flag.

The inside line did not have the same momentum, which helped Hill easily clear for the lead. Creed fell to fifth in the running order as Chandler Smith and Daniel Hemric both passed him on the outside. Sammy Smith also dove down in front of him.

While the majority of the field settled into two rows, five drivers headed down pit road for a pass-through penalty.

Justin Allgaier, Ryan Sieg, Jeb Burton, Jordan Anderson and Parker Retzlaff all made the mandatory trip for inspection violations. Now they will have to work on regaining lost positions.

The Xfinity Series returns to Daytona International Speedway for a Friday evening race.

The 100-lap event at the 2.5-mile superspeedway is one of the three remaining races before the playoffs begin. Four spots remain open to new winners after Sam Mayer won his second race of the season at Watkins Glen.

There are three previous Xfinity Daytona winners in the field for the race. Two-time Daytona winner Austin Hill will start from the pole. Two-time Daytona winner Justin Haley will line up ninth. Defending summer race winner Jeremy Clements will line up 32nd.

Haley will not be the only guest driver in the field. 2011 Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne will make his first start of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing. Jordan Anderson will make his first Xfinity start since 2021 as he drives a third entry for his team.

The Xfinity Series coverage begins with Countdown to Green at 7 p.m. on USA Network. The pre-race coverage continues on USA at 7:30 p.m.

Follow along for updates throughout Friday evening from the racetrack.