Ryan Truex Scores Win at Daytona

Ryan Truex celebrating in Victory Lane with his No. 20 team after winning the Wawa 250. (Photo: Cornell Chu | The Podium Finish)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Ryan Truex, who only runs part-time, has been making the most of his opportunities while driving for Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, earning two victories at Dover Motor Speedway over the past two seasons and on Friday night was able to win at The World Center of Racing.

“Oh my gosh, thanks to these fans, it’s so amazing to race here,” Truex said post-race. “Just thanks to these guys (the No. 20 team). I don’t get to race that often and I don’t know what I’m going to do next year. It’s all a work in progress. Just a great car.”

The win was the second on the season for Truex in just his eighth start of the season. Truex also has earned four top 10s in those starts as well.

Truex claimed the win after a multi-car incident that forced the race to go into a 12-minute, 11-second red flag delay that led to an overtime restart. On that restart, Truex held onto the lead ahead of AJ Allmendinger and Parker Kligerman before Allmendinger spun after contact with Kligerman and hit the wall hard in Turn 1 to end the race.

Ryan Truex doing a burnout on the front straightaway at Daytona International Speedway after winning the Wawa 250. (Photo: Cornell Chu | The Podium Finish)

Kligerman, who needed a good points day after he and his No. 48 team were hit with a 20-point penalty during the week came home in third but was frustrated to not reach Victory Lane.

“I feel like I put myself in position time after time and this race team has helped me do that and in this moment I go left and he (Allmendinger) just comes with me,” Kligerman told NBC Sports reporter Kim Coon after the race. “I just had a run and I had to go, I felt it was the run I had to take to put myself on the bottom if I was going to win this race.”

“I just want to win one of these damn things so bad.”

Allmendinger, who was still searching for his first victory of the season ended up finishing 24th after his hard wreck on the final lap.

After doing a burnout, Ryan Truex stood on top of his car after winning at Daytona. (Photo: Cornell Chu | The Podium Finish)

The battle for the final playoff spot also saw a change today as Ryan Sieg jumped back in front of Sammy Smith after finishing in fifth. Smith was involved in a caution late in the race and finished 23rd and now is 15 points behind Sieg for the 12 seed in the playoffs.

Justin Allgaier also took the points lead away from defending champion Cole Custer, who had an incident on pit road early with Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Riley Herbst. The damage ruined the day for Custer and the No. 00 car finished in the 32nd position, while Allgaier swept the stages and finished in seventh place.

Stage 1 Top 10 Results

1. Justin Allgaier
2. Chandler Smith
3. AJ Allmendinger
4. Sheldon Creed
5. Parker Kligerman
6. Ryan Truex
7. Anthony Alfredo
8. Joe Graf Jr
9. Sammy Smith
10. Jeremy Clements

Stage 2 Top 10 Results

1. Justin Allgaier
2. Riley Herbst
3. Ryan Truex
4. AJ Allmendinger
5. Jeb Burton
6. Parker Kligerman
7. Sheldon Creed
8. Chandler Smith
9. Brandon Jones
10. Josh Williams

Wawa 250 Powered by Coca-Cola at Daytona International Speedway Finishing Results