NASCAR Xfinity Series: Justin Haley a dark horse championship contender

By Asher Fair | Sep 20, 2019

LEXINGTON, OHIO - AUGUST 10: Justin Haley, driver of the #11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, looks on ahead of qualifiers at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on August 10, 2019 in Lexington, Ohio. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images) /

Justin Haley’s consistency in his first NASCAR Xfinity Series season driving for Kaulig Racing has him positioned to be a dark horse championship contender.

Kaulig Racing’s Justin Haley may very well be best-known for his upset win, arguably the biggest upset win in NASCAR Cup Series history, in early July at Daytona International Speedway driving for Spire Motorsports. But now he’s preparing to make his first playoff appearance in the Xfinity Series in his rookie season.

At the end of the 26-race regular season, Haley found himself in ninth place in the championship standings, although that became 10th to open up the playoffs because he scored only three playoff points (one for winning a stage, two for his ninth place finish in the standings) in the regular season.

The 20-year-old Winamac, Indiana native has had a quietly productive rookie season. He hasn’t won any races, but he has recorded 17 top 10 finishes, of which three were top five finishes.

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In the race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in late May, he finished in fifth place before going on to finish in a career-high second in the race at Daytona International Speedway in early July. He then finished in fifth in the penultimate race of the regular season at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Entering the playoffs, there isn’t a driver who has displayed more consistency than Haley has this year. He has recorded just one finish outside of the top 17, something that only regular season champion Tyler Reddick of Richard Childress Racing can say, and his range of finishes when he hasn’t been knocked out of races is just 15 positions, tied for the third lowest among all playoff drivers.

Consistency is key as it pertains to advancing through the playoffs. Of course, he will need to rely on more than consistency to make a deep playoff run, but he has what it takes to get the job done.

In Haley’s case, consistency and circumstances will be crucial.

Not many people have NASCAR resumes quite like Haley does when it comes to winning races.

Entering the Cup Series race in early July at Daytona International Speedway, he had a career-high finish of 32nd place in just two starts, and that 32nd place finish was in a race at Talladega Superspeedway that he didn’t even finish.

Spire Motorsports, meanwhile, had never recorded a lead-lap finish, and their best finish of 22nd place was also in a race that their driver didn’t even finish. Haley won the race after running in 27th when the “Big One” happened, bringing out what ended up being the race-ending caution flag. Several drivers were collected in this wreck, and all of the others running ahead of him who weren’t collected in it made pit stops anticipating that the race would go green again.

It didn’t.

Rain and lightning prevented the race from continuing, and Haley ended up being declared the winner.

Such good fortune followed Haley to the Cup Series from the Truck Series.

On the final restart of last year’s Truck Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, Kyle Busch Motorsports’ Noah Gragson led the race ahead of Haley in second place. Haley, who had not led all race long, got the lead on that restart with seven laps remaining after Gragson had a terrible restart and fell back to 10th place.

Haley ended up only having to fend off the rest of the field for two laps, as the stalled truck of ThorSport Racing’s Ben Rhodes brought out another caution flag just seconds after he took the lead. He did just that to secure his first career victory.

Entering the final lap of last year’s Truck Series playoff race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Kyle Busch Motorsports’ Todd Gilliland was the leader ahead of teammate Gragson. Haley was running in third place. Gragson got into Gilliland in the final corner coming to the checkered flag, spinning out both drivers, and it was Haley who passed them both to win the race.

Similarly, Gilliland led the playoff race at Texas Motor Speedway on the final lap as well. But he ran out of fuel on the back straightaway, and Haley took advantage to win.

Haley’s laps led total of 60 last season was the 13th highest among all drivers — even behind three part-time drivers — yet he advanced to the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway and finished in third place in the championship standings.

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Bottom line, Justin Haley isn’t going to be a flashy frontrunner throughout the 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs. He has never been that.

But he has proven in the past that he can be in the right place at the right time to win races, and his consistency so far this season bodes well for him, as does the fact that Kaulig Racing have been more competitive this season than any season in the past.

Haley’s playoff berth is the team’s first, and it comes after Ross Chastain delivered them their first ever victory at Daytona International Speedway ahead of Haley in second place.

Don’t sleep on the rookie.

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