Justin Haley an Unlikely NASCAR Winner at Daytona International Speedway
Racing at Daytona International Speedway over the long July 4th weekend was very eventful to say the least. And the end result was the most unlikely winner in many years for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
The Coke Zero Sugar 400 was scheduled to run Saturday night, but weather caused the race to be postponed until Sunday. Then weather caused Sunday's race to be cut short.
At the time the race was called, a young 20 year-old driver from Indiana in only his third career start was in the lead and declared the official winner. His name, Justin Haley, the driver of the number 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet.
The weather issue was lightening, which caused the race to be temporarily stopped with 33 laps to go in the 160 lap event. Drivers waited for the weather to clear.
Then they were called back to their cars for the restart. But lighten rolled back in before things could get back underway, and the race was called.
Kurt Busch, you might say, was on the wrong side of a lightening bolt. He was leading just before the red flag came out, but pitted for fuel. If he would have waited, he would have been the race winner.
And let's not forget the big crash that occurred on lap 120 when the front-running cars of Austin Dillon and Clint Bowyer touched at high speed in Turn 1, and all together 18 cars were collected, many of which were race favorites.
William Byron and Jimmie Johnson finished second and third, respectively. And Ty Dillon and Ryan Newman rounded out the top-five. See where your driver finished.