NASCAR Xfinity: Justin Haley Reveals Initial Frustration During Daytona Race In Spite of Win

Justin Haley may have won the final NASCAR Xfinity regular season race, but the win did not come easy for him. He revealed in the press conference that he anticipated the Ford cars trying to leapfrog the Kaulig Racing cars.

However, he confessed, “I was a little frustrated that I was further back that I’d like to be. However, 15 to go at Talladega, where I won, I was 30th. Everyone was single file at the top.”

Haley acknowledged that every race is unpredictable and he got a bit lucky at Daytona. The driver admitted that he was glad to get shuffled back up the order and put himself in striking position.

Justin Haley barely escaped the Kaulig drivers collision

Truthfully, this race should have gone to AJ Allmendinger, but fate had other ideas. Teammate Ross Chastain tried to lunge down the inside of the part-time Allmendinger, but they ended up tangling.

Fortunately, Haley was able to dodge the wreck and inherit the lead on the final lap. With that, he rocketed towards the finish line, chased by Gray Gaulding and Chase Briscoe respectively.

“It’s the way it is,” Allmendinger said. “I don’t know. I try to take care of my teammates, but it is what it is and it was going for the win. Ross is going for the championship and going for the win there. I saw him get low and thought maybe he would take care of me a little bit considering I was there. But he’s going for the win. It is what it is and just disappointing because we were going to have another one-two-three Kaulig finish at Daytona.”

Now, the trio will be looking forward to the next races and the start of the 2020 playoffs. The next race will be held at the Darlington Raceway, in the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW 200