NASCAR
Ryan Truex Holds on for Overtime Daytona Xfinity Victory
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Part time schedule or not, Ryan Truex has parked it in Xfinity Series victory lane again. Coming four months after the younger Truex brother took a second-straight Dover win, Truex wheeled the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota back to the checkers first at Daytona. Still unsure of his 2025 plans, this win may help Truex land a coveted full-time ride again.
Truex was among the class of the field all night, but both Stages were won by Justin Allgaier. The defending Wawa 250 winner eyed a repeat under the lights at Daytona, and a consecutive week in victory lane.
Coming down to overtime however, Truex lined up against the tandem of AJ Allmendinger and Parker Kligerman. Truex got the initial jump on the restart and had position entering turn one on the last lap. A badly timed move by the Allmendinger-Kligerman pairing sent the No. 16 spinning into turn one and back up the track. This forced an immediate yellow, ending the race a half lap early and awarding Truex the win.
“I didn’t really have [a final restart plan] to be honest,” Truex said. “I couldn’t figure out if I wanted the top or the bottom. I restarted on both lanes and felt like neither of them were great, but I fell back in 2018. I had the lead, and I took the top and I lost the race and I didn’t want to do that again, so I figured I would try the opposite of that and go to the bottom. Riley (Herbst) gave me a crazy push, so shout out to him. He didn’t wreck me – just straight up pushed me. Once the restart shook out, I was just listening to Tyler (Green, spotter) telling me where to block AJ (Allmendinger). I knew he had a run coming to the white. I knew he was going to go for it going into one and I got lucky, and all of those guys hit each other, and the caution came out. Here we are.”
“[This win] shows I’m versatile. We’ve won at Dover and Daytona – can’t be more opposite. This is my eighth race of the year – period. I don’t race late models or trucks or ARCA or any of that stuff. I do my sim work at TRD during the week, and that is my main focus and on weekends that I get to race, I put all of my effort into this car. To be able to add to the list of winners they’ve had in this car is really special. It hasn’t sunk in yet, but I’m sure it will. I might not feel too good tomorrow so maybe after that it will sink in. But it feels really good though.”
Behind Truex at the checkers were Chandler Smith, Parker Kligerman, Riley Herbst, and Ryan Sieg. Other top finishers included: Jordan Anderson, Justin Allgaier, Sheldon Creed, Leland Honeyman, and Kyle Weatherman. Hear from a few of these drivers below.
Xfinity Series teams are back in action next Saturday from Darlington Raceway. The Sport Clip Haircuts/VFW Help a Hero 200 goes green at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to Peter Stratta/TSJSports
