The drama continues at Daytona International Speedway. Reigning Xfinity Series champion Justin Allgaier found himself in the middle of controversy, not once but twice at the 2025 United Rentals 250. The JR Motorsports star attempted to make a bold move to get to the inside with just nine laps to go, despite traffic making the move of going three-wide a risky maneuver. The decision proved to be a bad one, as it initiated a chain reaction that caused a multi-car wreck.
Justin Bonsignore paid the price for Allgaier’s actions. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver came down slightly and got turned off the nose of the No. 7 into Sammy Smith. As a result, both Anthony Alfredo and Bonsignore spun off the track, effectively ending their hopes of winning the season-opener. Sammy Smith was also caught up in the Turn 4 incident but escaped the wreck relatively unscathed.
After the incident, Allgaier was told by his team, “Man you checked up and gave him opportunity but he moved down.” In turn, the 38-year-old veteran racer expressed his frustration towards Carson Kvapil, going on to say, “Just frustrating getting hung out. I was gonna cram it up the middle and try something. Like, am I doing something wrong?”
Connor Zilisch gets wrecked after a bad bump from teammate Justin Allgaier. Zilisch came up on Sheldon Creed and lost his moment right as Allgaier bumped him. Greg Van Alst, Ryan Ellis and William Sawalich also involved.
Allgaier was goin to pit for tire rub but won’t #NASCAR
— Jonathan Fjeld (@Jonathan_Fjeld) February 16, 2025
As for Justin Allgaier, the No. 7 Chevy driver was involved in yet another on-track incident. As the race inched closer towards the end, three Xfinity Series rookies were in a good position to finish in the season-opener. However, with just two laps to go, an on-track incident effectively ended any hopes for Zilisch, Sawalich, and Christian Eckes.
The reigning Xfinity Series winner was helping his JR Motorsports teammate move forward by providing support from the rear, but Sheldon Creed unexpectedly slowed down on the track, forcing Zilisch to crash hard into the outside wall and take several more hits from the incoming traffic before the danger had finally subsided. From running in the top five with just 15 laps to go, the 18-year-old racer ended the race 27th in the driver’s standing because of bad luck.
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