Top Dog: Justin Haley
With each passing week, more drivers are beginning to figure the Next Gen car out. Some have been taking more noticeable boosts in performance than others.
At the Goodyear 400 (May 8) at Darlington Raceway, Justin Haley proved that he is on the rise with a top-five finish on Mother’s Day, the first of the season for the No. 31 team and Haley’s first with Kaulig Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series.
While several underdogs fell victim to “The Lady in Black” and were devoured rather than taming her, Haley left the track with an eye-opening finish and hardly a scratch on his No. 31 LeafFilter Chevrolet.
Haley entered the race with five top-15 finishes in the past seven races. However, a top 10 had eluded him. For a majority of the race, it seemed that momentum may be taking a wrong twist as the 23-year-old struggled to crack the top 20 in the first two stages.
Stage two in particular challenged the pedigree of the young driver. Haley had to make two pit stops under yellow at the beginning of the stage before falling a lap down later on. He would earn the lucky dog at the end of the stage.
It was a slow start to the beginning of the final stage for the No. 31 team. But as the laps wore on, Haley slowly began to climb the scoring pylon. A yellow flag waved with 39 laps to go with Haley in the 12th position, his highest positioning up to that point. His big break came with 33 laps to go.
Kevin Harvick took Martin Truex Jr. and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. three-wide in turns 1 and 2. Truex could not hold on, slapping off of Stenhouse and spinning right in front of the field. A pileup ensued, collecting several fast race cars. However, Haley was not one of them.
That was all the Winamac, Ind. native needed to open the floodgate. With 23 laps to go, he wheeled his green machine into the fourth position where he would stay until two laps to go. A bump from Joey Logano into William Byron‘s back bumper sent Byron into the wall, allowing Haley to…
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