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Justin Allgaier Edges Sheldon Creed By 0.005 Seconds In Thrilling Daytona Finish

by Hunter Thomas August 26, 2023 1 comment

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Justin Allgaier edged Sheldon Creed by 0.005 seconds to win the Wawa 250 Powered by Coca-Cola at Daytona International Speedway on Friday night.

The victory marked his second win of the season and his very first at Daytona. The weekend didn’t start off so great for Allgaier and his JR Motorsports No. 7 Hellmann’s Chevrolet team. Following an inspection violation, Allgaier had to start the race at the rear of the field and serve a pass-through penalty; however, through strategy, he mad his way to the front of the field and became a top competitor for the victory.

“We had an oversight yesterday when we got to the track and put the car through inspection that just wasn’t where we wanted to roll through inspection, and unfortunately, that cost us a pass through, and the team never quit, never gave up, and we rallied and obviously, put ourselves in position,” Allgaier said. “The strategy was awesome.”

On the final lap, Allgaier had a commanding lead to the white flag, but the field quickly closed the gap. As the field entered Turn 3 for the final time, Creed made a move to the outside of Allgaier, and the two drivers battled side-by-side through Turn 4 and onto the frontstretch. Creed had a nose ahead, but Allgaier on the bottom lane prevailed and won by tying the fourth closest finish in NASCAR national series history. The margin of victory was a mere 0.005 seconds.

“I’ve been coming to this place for a long time,” Allgaier said. “I’ve wanted to win here so bad, and we’ve been so close. This team, I just can’t say enough. Jim Polhman (crew chief), everybody on this 7 team, everybody at JR Motorsports. Obviously, our Hellmann’s Camero was amazing tonight. To come through the adversity that we had to come through and to not really be sure what we were going to have there at the end. We did all of the things we needed to do. The pit crew was lights out.”

Creed, who remains winless so far this season, earned his second consecutive runner-up finish. Despite not having a victory this season, Creed is 60 points ahead of the cutoff position to make the NASCAR Playoffs in three weeks.

Rounding out the top-five was Daniel Hemric, Parker Kligerman and Cole Custer. Ryan Sieg finished sixth, followed by Parker Retzlaff, Anthony Alfredo, Gray Gaulding and Justin Haley.

Austin Hill won Stage 1, and Creed won Stage 2.

Hill also led a race high of 36 laps, but he crashed out while trying to make a move on Trevor Bayne on a Lap 100 restart. The crash involved a total of nine cars.

The largest accident of the night involved 12 cars, and it took place on Lap 43 in Stage 2. The crash ignited when Alfredo slid up the track in the tri-oval and made contact with Brandon Jones. From that point, Jones got sideways, and everyone else had nowhere to go.

Hill continues to lead the standings over Allgaier, but now the gap has closed to 27 points. The NASCAR Xfinity Series will visit Darlington Raceway on Saturday, September 2 for the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help a Hero 200. Live coverage will broadcast on USA at 3:30 p.m. ET.

Photo Credit: Mitchell White/TheFourthTurn.com