Friday, August 26th, 2022
Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, FL
Friday night's bizarre, attrition-filled, rain-delayed NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway produced an appropriately unexpected outcome when Jeremy Clements took the checkered flag under caution at the end of the third attempt at overtime.
Clements' victory in the Wawa 250, a race that started roughly three hours late and ended shortly before 1:30 a.m. on Saturday, was his first at Daytona and the second of his career. Both of Clements victories have come on August 27, his first at Road America on Aug. 27, 2017.
"I'm speechless, man - I don't even know what to say," said Clements, who grabbed a Playoff spot with the victory and shoved Ryan Sieg into 13th place in the standings, 12 points below the cut line. "We survived that big wreck back there (in the first overtime). It was like a 'Days of Thunder' wreck.
"Then I was like, 'If we can just keep up with these guys, it'll be a good day - top five and bring this car home in one piece.' But, wow! This is incredible."
As race leader Austin Hill lost electrical power and steered his Chevrolet to the apron, Clements got a push from Sage Karam on the third overtime restart on Lap 117 and was out front on the final lap when NASCAR called the 11th caution for Riley Herbst's spin on the backstretch. Timmy Hill finished second, followed by AJ Allmendinger, Brandon Brown and Karam, who posted his career-best finish.
Eighteen of the 38 cars that started the race were already in the garage when Clements took the checkered flag.
A massive multicar wreck on Lap 98 of a scheduled 100 sent the race to overtime. First, Landon Cassill's Chevrolet slapped the outside wall and collided with Jeb Burton's Camaro.
Then, at the front of the field, Daniel Hemric moved down the track and turned off the nose of Noah Gragson Chevrolet, igniting a melee that involved eight cars.
But that was just the appetizer before a feast of crumpled chassis that followed the restart for the first attempt at overtime. On Lap 104, Brown's Chevrolet got loose on the backstretch in front of Riley Herbst's Ford.
Brown spun, and 13 cars were damaged in the ensuing chaos. But the hardest hit of the night came on overtime attempt No. 2.
Chain reaction contact between the cars of Clements, Allmendinger and Noah Gragson turned Gragson into the path of Landon Cassill's Chevrolet. The impact from Cassill's car spun Gragson around 360 degrees and tore the body off the front clip.
Gragson had led a race-high 54 laps at that point.
A multicar accident on Lap 83 put a dent in Sheldon Creed's Playoff hopes and destroyed his No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.
John Hunter Nemechek's No. 26 Toyota got loose off Turn 2 and spun off the front bumper of Brown's Chevy.
"All of a sudden, I was looking at the inside wall," Nemechek said. "I'm not sure what happened, but I felt like I was hooked in the left rear."
Creed's Camaro hit Nemechek's car and spun to the inside and shot back across the track into traffic, demolishing Joe Graf Jr.'s Ford. The wreck kept Creed below the Playoff cut line, 55 points behind Cassill for the last spot, with three races left before the Playoff field is set.
ENTRY | # | DRIVER | HOMETOWN | DOB | AGE | MAKE | SPONSOR | TEAM | CREW CHIEF |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger | Los Gatos, CA | Dec 16, 1981 | 42 | Chevrolet | Action Industries | Kaulig Racing | Bruce Schlicker |
2 | 66 | JJ Yeley | Phoenix, AZ | Oct 5, 1976 | 48 | Chevrolet | IEC My Electric Career | Motorsports Business Management | George Church |
3 | 24 | Joe Nemechek | Lakeland, FL | Sep 26, 1963 | 61 | Toyota | Fleetwing | Sam Hunt Racing | Eric Phillips |
4 | 10 | Landon Cassill | Cedar Rapids, IA | Jul 7, 1989 | 35 | Chevrolet | Voyager: Crypto for All | Kaulig Racing | Jason Trinchere |
5 | 08 | David Starr | Houston, TX | Nov 11, 1967 | 56 | Ford | EVERFI / Special Report | SS-GLR w/Jeff Lefcourt | Jason Miller |
6 | 48 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr | Olive Branch, MS | Oct 2, 1987 | 37 | Chevrolet | Big Machine Spiked Coolers | Big Machine Racing | Patrick Donahue |
7 | 13 | Timmy Hill | Port Tobacco, MD | Feb 25, 1993 | 31 | Toyota | Coble Enterprises / VSI Racing | Motorsports Business Management | Jason Houghtaling |
8 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | Riverton, IL | Jun 6, 1986 | 38 | Chevrolet | hellowater | JR Motorsports | Jason Burdett |
9 | 35 | Joey Gase | Cedar Rapids, IA | Feb 8, 1993 | 31 | Toyota | NCPC.ORG | Emerling Gase Motorsports | Rick Bourgeois |
10 | 27 | Jeb Burton | Halifax, VA | Aug 6, 1992 | 32 | Chevrolet | Alliance Aviation | Our Motorsports | Chad Walter |
11 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | Tucker, GA | Jun 20, 1987 | 37 | Ford | A-GAME | RSS Racing | Kevin Starland |
12 | 11 | Daniel Hemric | Kannapolis, NC | Jan 27, 1991 | 33 | Chevrolet | Cirkul - Water Your Way | Kaulig Racing | Alex Yontz |
13 | 47 | Brennan Poole | Sacramento, CA | Apr 11, 1991 | 33 | Chevrolet | Barker Construction | Mike Harmon Racing | Ryan Bell |
14 | 4 | Bayley Currey | Driftwood, TX | Oct 29, 1996 | 27 | Chevrolet | Alka-Seltzer | JD Motorsports | Wayne Carroll Jr |
15 | 14 | Justin Haley | Winamac, IN | Apr 28, 1999 | 25 | Chevrolet | DaaBIN Store | Kaulig Racing | Justin Cox |
16 | 26 | John Hunter Nemechek | Mooresville, NC | Jun 11, 1997 | 27 | Toyota | Freedom 13 | Sam Hunt Racing | Allen Hart |
17 | 36 | Alex Labbe | Saint-Albert, Canada | Apr 29, 1993 | 31 | Chevrolet | Can-Am | DGM Racing | Nathan Kennedy |
18 | 21 | Austin Hill | Winston, GA | Apr 21, 1994 | 30 | Chevrolet | United Rentals | Richard Childress Racing | Andy Street |
19 | 68 | Brandon Brown | Woodbridge, VA | Sep 14, 1993 | 31 | Chevrolet | Brandonbilt Motorsports | Brandonbilt Motorsports | Doug Randolph |
20 | 19 | Brandon Jones | Atlanta, GA | Feb 18, 1997 | 27 | Toyota | Menards\Patriot Lighting | Joe Gibbs Racing | Jeff Meendering |
21 | 45 | Caesar Bacarella | Parkland, FL | Dec 18, 1975 | 48 | Chevrolet | Clear Cryptos | Alpha Prime Racing | Michael Brandt |
22 | 28 | CJ McLaughlin | Framingham, MA | Jul 1, 1992 | 32 | Ford | Sci Aps | RSS Racing | Steve Addington |
23 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Spartanburg, SC | Jan 16, 1985 | 39 | Chevrolet | One Stop / ASE | Jeremy Clements Racing | Mark Setzer |
24 | 7 | Joe Graf Jr | Mahwah, NJ | Jul 12, 1998 | 26 | Ford | GTECHNIQ | SS-GLR w/Jeff Lefcourt | Joe Williams |
25 | 92 | Josh Williams | Port Charlotte, FL | Aug 3, 1993 | 31 | Chevrolet | Alloy Employer Services | DGM Racing | Ryan London |
26 | 78 | Matt Mills | Lynchburg, VA | Nov 14, 1996 | 27 | Chevrolet | J.F. Electric | BJ McLeod Motorsports | Mike Tyska |
27 | 31 | Myatt Snider | Charlotte, NC | Dec 30, 1994 | 29 | Chevrolet | TaxSlayer | Jordan Anderson Racing | Shane Whitbeck |
28 | 9 | Noah Gragson | Las Vegas, NV | Jul 15, 1998 | 26 | Chevrolet | Bass Pro Shops TrueTimber BRCC | JR Motorsports | Luke Lambert |
29 | 98 | Riley Herbst | Las Vegas, NV | Feb 24, 1999 | 25 | Ford | Monster Energy | Stewart-Haas Racing | Richard Boswell |
30 | 91 | Mason Massey | Douglasville, GA | Jan 24, 1997 | 27 | Chevrolet | BRUNT Workwear | DGM Racing | Mario Gosselin |
31 | 23 | Anthony Alfredo | Ridgefield, CT | Mar 1, 1999 | 25 | Chevrolet | Pit Boss Grills | Our Motorsports | Pat Tryson |
32 | 34 | Jesse Iwuji | Carrollton, TX | Aug 12, 1987 | 37 | Chevrolet | Coca-Cola Zero Sugar | Jesse Iwuji Motorsports | Dan Stillman |
33 | 77 | Ronnie Bassett Jr | Winston-Salem, NC | Dec 21, 1995 | 28 | Chevrolet | Jerry Hunt Supercenter | Bassett Racing | Dillon Bassett |
34 | 6 | Ryan Vargas | La Miranda, CA | Sep 23, 2000 | 24 | Chevrolet | National Metering Services | JD Motorsports | Kase Kallenbach |
35 | 2 | Sheldon Creed | Alpine, CA | Sep 30, 1997 | 27 | Chevrolet | Whelen | Richard Childress Racing | Jeff Stankiewicz |
36 | 8 | Josh Berry | Hendersonville, TN | Oct 22, 1990 | 33 | Chevrolet | Tire Pros Summer for Heroes | JR Motorsports | Mike Bumgarner |
37 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | Charlotte, NC | Oct 4, 2002 | 22 | Toyota | Monster Energy | Joe Gibbs Racing | Chris Gayle |
38 | 5 | Natalie Decker | Eagle River, WI | Jun 25, 1997 | 27 | Ford | BJ McLeod Motorsports | BJ McLeod Motorsports | David Ingram |
39 | 2 | Blaine Perkins | Bakersfield, CA | Feb 28, 2000 | 24 | Chevrolet | Hometown Lenders | Our Motorsports | Kris Bowen |
40 | 38 | Kyle Sieg | Tucker, GA | Apr 16, 2001 | 23 | Ford | Trouble spirits/Mafe | RSS Racing | Andrew May |
41 | 1 | Sam Mayer | Franklin, WI | Jun 26, 2003 | 21 | Chevrolet | Accelerate Pros Talent | JR Motorsports | Taylor Moyer |
42 | 44 | Sage Karam | Nazareth, PA | Mar 5, 1995 | 29 | Chevrolet | Clermont Lakes/Alt-Tab Capital | Alpha Prime Racing | Frank Kerr |
43 | 18 | Sammy Smith | Johnston, IA | Jun 4, 2004 | 20 | Toyota | Pilot Flying J | Joe Gibbs Racing | Jason Ratcliff |