Furious Justin Haley Explodes in an Expletive-Laden Rant at NASCAR

Published 08/29/2022, 5:16 AM EDT

In any form of motorsport, adverse weather conditions are always the bane of existence. Even if some drivers are, or claim to be wet weather specialists, sudden showers will catch anyone off guard. Earlier at the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at the Daytona International Speedway, this very situation unfolded. Suffice to say, Kaulig Racing driver Justin Haley was not a happy camper.

"WHAT THE F*CK WAS THAT?! IT WAS F*CKING POURING! F*CK ALL OF YOU!" – Justin Haley #NASCAR #CokeZeroSugar400
— Noah Lewis (NASCAR) (@Noah_Lewis1) August 28, 2022

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He raged on the radio, “What the f*** was that?! It was f***ing pouring! F*** all of you!”. His fury was largely because there was a sudden rain shower during the race, and it caught many drivers by surprise. It also didn’t help that NASCAR officials were a little slow in responding and throwing the caution flag.

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What happened that made Justin Haley so mad?

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As mentioned before, the rain came very suddenly, and it occurred with 21 laps remaining. Haley and many other drivers believed that the officials mishandled the situation. According to Chris Buescher, it was raining at Turn 1 and that triggered the Big One, as drivers lost control and wrecked. Trackhouse Racing team owner Justin Marks said the wreck cost nearly $4 million in damage.

Haley also said, “We tore up a lot of race cars, so that was pretty unacceptable. I don’t get it. My spotter said it was raining, it was sprinkling on my windshield for a good bit. We literally all lost traction. Like, the tires did not meet the road anymore. It was wet. When we’re running 200 [mph] we can’t do that.”

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Interestingly, Kyle Busch had a different take on the matter. He observed that there was no rain during the previous lap at the Daytona International Speedway. In his eyes, the heavens opened right before the wreck, so every driver just became sitting ducks. This is why he firmly believed that the rain happened “way too late” to call a caution.

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Dhruv George is a senior Motorsports author for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.