Ryan Reed scores first career Xfinity Series win with last-lap pass at Daytona (VIDEO)

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Four years after being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and told he would never race again, Ryan Reed is now a winner in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Even better, his first win has come on NASCAR’s biggest stage.

Reed blew by Brad Keselowski on the final lap and then held off Roush Fenway Racing teammate Chris Buescher to win the season-opening Alert Today Florida 300 at Daytona International Speedway. It’s not only Reed’s first career Xfinity win, but also the first Xfinity win ever for the Roush team at the “World Center of Racing.”

A wild final lap started with Brad Keselowski leading the way. Then, going into Turn 1, Kyle Larson charged on the outside but appeared to be tapped from behind by Aric Almirola and was sent spinning into Ross Chastain.

While Larson and Chastain went into the grass, Keselowski got out to a big lead – but became a sitting duck for it. Reed was pushed down the backstretch by Buescher, enabling Reed to pass Keselowski on the inside of Turn 3 while Buescher got around Keselowski in Turn 4.

Buescher then moved inside to try and reel in Reed, but ran out of time.

“Oh my God, we’ve won Daytona!,” Reed exclaimed in Victory Lane to Fox Sports 1. “This is not only for me and my family, but every kid that gets diagnosed with diabetes – or anything that says you can’t do something. Just go out there, overcome it, win it, and do the best you can.

“We got shuffled back there with like three to go and I was like, ‘Alright, our race is done – just salvage.’ And when the wreck broke out on the last lap, Keselowski was left on an island. We got a massive run and we set it up for a victory.”

As for Keselowski, he said that something happened with Almirola exiting Turn 2 to cause the gap on the final lap.

“I couldn’t react fast enough to that to try and stay with the field,” Keselowski said. “I drove away from them and they went rubber band on us. The 16 [Reed] and the 60 [Buescher] got a great run with some really smart drafting and flung by us. That was just the way the cards were dealt.”

Almirola would later confirm that he suffered a tire rub following the Larson contact and then lost his right-rear tire.

Brothers Ty and Austin Dillon finished third and fourth respectively, while Keselowski fell back to fifth at the finish. David Starr, Almirola, Larson, Chastain, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. completed the Top 10.

The first 80 laps of the race ran caution free, but things soon turned dicey with two major crashes in the final third of the 120-lap event.

With 27 laps remaining, contact between Larson and the lapped car of rookie Daniel Suarez sent the latter spinning into defending race winner Regan Smith. Smith was flipped over before landing right-side up and took hits from Scott Lagasse Jr. and Brendan Gaughan before coming to a stop (Smith would walk away under his own power). More than 10 cars were involved in the incident.

Then with less than 10 laps to go, another Big One ensued coming out of the tri-oval when Kyle Busch made contact with his Camping World Truck Series driver Erik Jones. Jones spun out, and Busch then bounced off Larson’s machine before going hard left and smashing into an inside retaining wall.

Busch climbed out of his car but then went to the grass where he was tended to by medical teams. After being put on a stretcher with a protective sleeve over his right leg, an awake and alert Busch was taken via ambulance to Halifax Medical Center for further evaluation.

Busch has since been ruled out of tomorrow’s Daytona 500 after suffering a injury to that right leg. When we have more details on his condition, we will pass it along to you.

NASCAR Xfinity Series – Alert Today Florida 300 at Daytona
Unofficial Results

1. Ryan Reed … 120 laps … $128,770
2. Chris Buescher … 120 laps … $101,035
3. Ty Dillon … 120 laps … $82,710
4. Austin Dillon … 120 laps … $74,735
5. Brad Keselowski … 120 laps … $64,245
6. David Starr … 120 laps … $67,520
7. Aric Almirola … 120 laps … $57,820
8. Kyle Larson … 120 laps … $57,745
9. Ross Chastain … 120 laps … $61,495
10. Dale Earnhardt Jr. … 119 laps … $55,445
11. Dakoda Armstrong … 119 laps … $59,445
12. Darrell Wallace Jr. … 119 laps .. $59,070
13. Mike Wallace … 119 laps … $52,595
14. Jeremy Clements … 118 laps … $58,270
15. Mario Gosselin … 118 laps … $58,570
16. Jeffrey Earnhardt … 118 laps … $57,670
17. Eric McClure … 116 laps … $57,420
18. Erik Jones … 116 laps … $57,295
19. Elliott Sadler … 116 laps … $57,145
20. Blake Koch … 115 laps… $57,520
21. Chris Cockrum … 115 laps … $56,895
22. Derek White … 115 laps … $56,765
23. Josh Reaume … 115 laps … $50,590
24. Mike Harmon … 114 laps … $56,465
25. Brian Scott … 112 laps … $56,465
26. Kyle Busch … 111 laps … $52,690 … Accident
27. J.J. Yeley … 111 laps … $56,090 … Accident
28. Chase Elliott … 111 laps … $56,990 … Accident
29. Brendan Gaughan … 110 laps … $55,990 … Accident
30. Cale Conley … 110 laps … $56,065
31. Landon Cassill … 108 laps … $55,590
32. Joey Gase … 107 laps … $55,495
33. John Wes Townley … 106 laps … $55,445
34. Justin Marks … 93 laps … $55,640 … Accident
35. Regan Smith … 93 laps … $55,224 … Accident
36. Chad Boat … 92 laps … $45,650 … Accident
37. Scott Lagasse, Jr. … 92 laps … $50,500 … Accident
38. Ryan Sieg … 92 laps … $49,500 … Accident
39. Daniel Suarez … 91 laps … $48,500 … Accident
40. Dexter Bean … 5 laps … $41,500 … Fuel Pump

Time of race: 2 hours, 0 minutes, 59 seconds.
Margin of victory: 0.089 seconds
Average speed: 148.781 mph
Cautions: 4 for 17 laps
Lead Changes: 24 among 9 drivers
Laps Led: Busch 27, Wallace 18, Ty Dillon 16, Smith 15, Reed 14, Keselowski 13, Buescher 12, Larson 4, Austin Dillon 1.

NASCAR suspends Chase Elliott one race for incident with Denny Hamlin

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NASCAR suspended Chase Elliott one Cup race for wrecking Denny Hamlin in Monday’s Coca-Cola 600, the sanctioning body announced Tuesday.

“We take this very seriously,” Elton Sawyer, senior vice president of competition, said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “The incident that happened off Turn 4, again after looking at all the available resources — in-car camera, data, SMT, which basically gives us (a car’s) steering, throttle, gives us braking — it was an intentional act by Chase in our opinion.”

Hendrick Motorsports stated that it would not appeal the penalty. Corey LaJoie will drive the No. 9 car for Hendrick Motorsports this weekend at World Wide Technology Raceway. Carson Hocevar will drive LaJoie’s car this weekend.

Hendrick Motorsports also stated that it would submit a waiver request for Elliott to remain eligible for the playoffs. Sawyer said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that “I don’t see any reason at this point in time why wouldn’t (grant the waiver) when that request comes across our desk.”

This weekend will mark the seventh race in the first 15 that Elliott will have missed. He missed six races after breaking his leg in a snowboarding accident in early March. Elliott, who is winless this season, is 29th in points.

Elliott and Hamlin got together shortly before the halfway mark in Monday’s race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

As they ran together, Elliott’s car slapped the outside wall. Elliott’s car then made contact with the right rear of Hamlin’s car, sending Hamlin into the wall.

“I got right-rear hooked in the middle of the straightway,” Hamlin said after the incident. “Yes, it was a tantrum. He shouldn’t be racing next week. Right-rear hooks are absolutely unacceptable. He shouldn’t be racing.”

Said Sawyer on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio: “In the heat of the battle, things happen, but they have to learn to react in a different way. … Our drivers need to understand that you have to handle that in a completely different way than hooking someone in the right rear and putting them in harm’s way, not only with just a major head-on collision like Denny had, but also other competitors.”

Sawyer also said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that “nothing gave us the indication that on that particular contact with the fourth-turn wall … that anything was broke” on Elliott’s car and could have caused him to come down and hit Hamlin’s car in the right rear.

NASCAR also announced that Scott Brzozowski and Adam Lewis, crew members on Michael McDowell‘s team, had each been suspended two races after McDowell’s car lost a tire in Monday’s race.

Winners and losers at Charlotte Motor Speedway

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A look at winners and losers from Monday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway:

WINNERS

Ryan Blaney — Blaney stopped his winless streak at 59 races and gave team owner Roger Penske his second major race victory in two days. Blaney had the best car but had to fight through restarts late in the race to win.

William Byron — Byron, the winningest driver this season, barely missed getting victory No. 4. He finished second and scored his fifth straight top 10.

Martin Truex Jr. — Truex logged his third top five of the season.

23XI RacingBubba Wallace was fourth and Tyler Reddick fifth, giving 23XI Racing a pair of top-five finishes for the first time in a points race.

LOSERS

Jimmie Johnson — The seven-time champion admitted having problems adjusting to the Next Gen car on a 1.5-mile track. He crashed early and finished last.

Legacy Motor Club — It was a bad night for Jimmie Johnson and his team’s drivers. Johnson finished last in the 37-car field. Noah Gragson was 36th. Erik Jones placed 32nd.

Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin — Two drivers who had strong cars didn’t make it to the finish after crashing near the halfway point. Hamlin said Elliott “shouldn’t be racing next week. Right-rear hooks are absolutely unacceptable. He shouldn’t be racing.”

NASCAR Xfinity Series results: Justin Allgaier wins at Charlotte

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CONCORD, N.C. — Justin Allgaier finally broke through for his first win of the NASCAR Xfinity Series season Monday night.

Allgaier stretched his last fuel load over the final laps to finish in front of John Hunter Nemechek. Cole Custer was third, Austin Hill fourth and Ty Gibbs fifth. Gibbs ran both races Monday, completing 900 miles.

The win also was the first of the season for JR Motorsports.

Charlotte Xfinity results

Xfinity points after Charlotte

Justin Allgaier wins NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway

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CONCORD, N.C. — Justin Allgaier won a fuel-mileage gamble to win Monday night’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Allgaier stretched his fuel to outlast second-place John Hunter Nemechek. Following in the top five were Cole Custer, Austin Hill and Ty Gibbs.

The victory was Allgaier’s first of the year and the first of the season for JR Motorsports. He has 20 career wins.

MORE: Charlotte Xfinity results

After a long day at CMS, the race ended at 11:25 p.m. The race started Monday morning but was stopped twice because of weather before it was halted with 48 of 200 laps completed so that the Coca-Cola 600 Cup Series race could be run.

When the race was stopped, Gibbs, Nemechek and Allgaier were in the top three positions.

Gibbs won the first two stages.

Stage 1 winner: Ty Gibbs

Stage 2 winner: Ty Gibbs

Who had a good race: Justin Allgaier has had good cars in previous races but finally cashed in with a win Monday. He led 83 laps. … John Hunter Nemechek, in second, scored his fifth top-two run of the season. … Cole Custer scored his sixth straight top-10 finish. … Ty Gibbs lasted 900 miles for the day and led 52 laps in the Xfinity race.

Who had a bad race: Sam Mayer was running 10th when he spun off Turn 2. He finished 35th. … Sheldon Creed finished three laps down in 28th.

Next: The series moves on to Portland International Raceway in Oregon for a 4:30 p.m. ET race June 3.