Aggressive driving cost Justin Haley his chance at the final $100,000 Xfinity Dash 4 Cash prize in Sunday’s Xfinity Series race.
Haley was assessed a rare two-lap hold penalty on pit road for aggressive driving for putting Riley Herbst into the wall with 42 laps to go.
Haley and crew chief Alex Yontz have been called to meet with NASCAR officials after the race.
Here’s the exchange between Yontz and Haley on the team radio:
Yontz: “So you have to be the one to move somebody first. But if you retaliate, which they think that was retaliation, they hold you.”
Haley: “I had a run at the wall, I had to lift out of the gas and turn left.”
The contact knocked Haley out of contention for the Dash 4 Cash prize, leaving Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric and Alex Labbe left. Cindric would be involved in a multi-car later in the race, knocking him out of the race.
.@JoeGibbsRacing & and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad #XfinitySeries Day.@rileyherbst gets sent around on the frontstretch at @PoconoRaceway. pic.twitter.com/ly0MACTw0t
— Xfinity Racing (@XfinityRacing) June 28, 2020
Labbe also had minor contact with the wall at the end of Stage 1 but remained in the race.
The aggressive driving wasn’t just about Haley. NASCAR Cup driver Erik Jones tweeted his disappointment in the overall tone of the race.
The respect level in this race is very disappointing to me.
— Erik Jones (@Erik_Jones) June 28, 2020