Ryan Truex drove one of the best races of his NASCAR career on Friday.
The 32-year-old grabbed the third victory of Xfinity Series career in Friday’s WaWa 250 at Daytona, holding the race lead in overtime as AJ Allmendinger spun from second place on the final lap.
Allmendinger and Truex were two of the best cars of the night, and on the race’s final restart, it was Truex who cleared Allmendinger for the lead and stayed up front when the caution flag flew.
The win is the second for Truex in 2024, as he also won at Dover on April 27.
Pole sitter Chandler Smith finished second, with Parker Kligerman, Riley Herbst and Ryan Sieg rounding out the top-five. Jordan Anderson and Justin Allgaier finished sixth and seventh, respectively, with Sheldon Creed, Leland Honeyman and Kyle Weatherman completed the top-10.
Other notable finishers include Sam Mayer in 13th, Jesse Love in 21st, Brandon Jones in 22nd, Allmendinger in 24th and Shane van Gisbergen in 25th.
In the spirit of Daytona, Friday’s race featured a litany of big crashes, including a melee on lap one that took out Gus Dean, Ryan Ellis and Akinori Ogata.
On lap 96, the “Big One” took place, with Anthony Alfredo sliding up the track and collecting Caesar Bacarella, Jeremy Clements, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Josh Bilicki, van Gisbergen and Patrick Emerling.
With Cole Custer’s 32nd-place finish, Allgaier now moves into the Xfinity Series points lead by 33 points.
The Xfinity Series’ next race will be held on Saturday, Aug. 31 at Darlington. The Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200 will go green shortly after 3:30 p.m. ET, with coverage on USA Network, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.