NASCAR Cup Series: Justin Haley snags upset win at 2019 Coke Zero Sugar 400

Justin Haley benefited from lightning and rain to capture the unlikeliest of first career NASCAR Cup Series victories at Daytona International Speedway in the Coke Zero Sugar 400.

A win is a win.

In just the third start of his NASCAR Cup Series career, Spire Motorsports’ Justin Haley led the first lap of his career.

That lone lap happened to be the final lap of a rain-shortened Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway. As a result, the full-time Xfinity Series driver for Kaulig Racing secured the first victory of his career…his Cup Series career.

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Haley started this 127-lap race, which was scheduled to be a 160-lap race but was shortened due to lightning and rain, around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked Daytona International Speedway oval in Daytona Beach, Florida in 34th place in his #77 Chevrolet.

He inherited the lead after Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kurt Busch and StarCom Racing’s Landon Cassill came into the pits after being told that there was one lap to go before the restart but still did not pit.

Busch, Cassill and others attempted to stay out on the track without pitting for as long as they could due to the threat of rain. They did so after several other drivers did come into the pits after the “Big One” took place and collected more than a dozen cars of contenders.

But after they pitted, NASCAR officials decided that the restart would not take place on the ensuing lap due to lightning, leaving Haley in the lead ahead of Hendrick Motorsports teammates William Byron and Jimmie Johnson in second and third place in their #24 Chevrolet and #48 Chevrolet, respectively.

After a lengthy delay, the lightning clock ran out from 30 minutes, and the track drying efforts in turns three and four resulted in drivers being called to get back into their cars.

Then lightning struck again.

After another lengthy delay that featured more rain, the race was finally called with the 20-year-old Winamac, Indiana native as the winner and Byron and Johnson and a career-high second place and a season-high third, respectively.

Germain Racing’s Ty Dillon also finished in a career-high fourth place in his #13 Chevrolet to give Chevrolet a top four sweep. Roush Fenway Racing’s Ryan Newman rounded out the top five by finishing in fifth in his #6 Ford, making him the race’s highest finishing Ford driver.

Go Fas Racing’s Corey LaJoie also finished in a career-high sixth place in his #32 Ford. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Aric Almirola finished in seventh in his #10 Ford while Leavine Family Racing’s Matt DiBenedetto finished in eighth in his #95 Toyota, making him the race’s highest finishing Toyota driver.

Continuing the trend of drivers recording career-high finishes was Front Row Motorsports rookie Matt Tifft, who finished in ninth place in his #36 Ford as the fifth highest driver to record a career-high finish in this race. After making the pit stop that ultimately cost him the victory, Busch had to settle for 10th in his #1 Chevrolet.

After qualifying was canceled due to lightning and then rain on Friday evening and the race itself was postponed from Saturday evening until Sunday afternoon, it was only fitting that such a crazy and unlikely outcome was determined by inclement weather.

This race featured a total of 24 lead changes among 15 drivers. Aside of Haley, 14 other drivers led at least one lap of the race. These 14 drivers were DiBenedetto, Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch, Wood Brothers Racing’s Paul Menard, JTG Daugherty Racing’s Chris Buescher, Roush Fenway Racing’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Team Penske’s Joey Logano, the race polesitter, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick, JTG Daugherty Racing rookie Ryan Preece, Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Clint Bowyer, Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott and Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney.

Dillon led more laps than anybody else in the field with 46 laps led, but it was his contact with Bowyer that triggered the “Big One” that resulted in the caution flag period that ultimately marked the end of the race’s on-track competition. Logano won stage one while Dillon won stage two.

Of the 40 drivers who competed in this race, 31 finished it, and of the 31 drivers who finished this race, 18 finished on the lead lap.

This race featured a total of six caution flag periods, of which four took place as a result of on-track incidents and two took place as a result of the usual endings of stages one and two.

Here are the full race results of the 2019 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

Race Results
1st – Justin Haley
2nd – William Byron
3rd – Jimmie Johnson
4th – Ty Dillon
5th – Ryan Newman
6th – Corey LaJoie
7th – Aric Almirola
8th – Matt DiBenedetto
9th – Matt Tifft
10th – Kurt Busch
11th – Landon Cassill
12th – J.J. Yeley
13th – Michael McDowell
14th – Kyle Busch
15th – Darrell Wallace Jr.
16th – Paul Menard
17th – Chris Buescher
18th – Daniel Hemric
19th – Brendan Gaughan
20th – Kyle Larson
21st – Alex Bowman
22nd – Martin Truex Jr.
23rd – Erik Jones
24th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
25th – Joey Logano
26th – Denny Hamlin
27th – Joey Gase
28th – B.J. McLeod
29th – Kevin Harvick
30th – Ross Chastain
31st – Parker Kligerman
32nd – Ryan Preece
33rd – Austin Dillon
34th – Clint Bowyer
35th – Chase Elliott
36th – Ryan Blaney
37th – Quin Houff
38th – David Ragan
39th – Brad Keselowski
40th – Daniel Suarez

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Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Kentucky is scheduled to host the next race on the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series schedule, the Quaker State 400, next Saturday, July 13. NBC Sports Network is set to broadcast this race live beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET.

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