Justin Allgaier’s poorly timed block near the end of the second stage of the Daytona 500 took out a host of cars at the front of the field.
Allgaier was leading with less than 10 laps to go before the stage concluded when Denny Hamlin got a push from Ryan Blaney at the front of the outside line entering the tri-oval. As Hamlin went to Allgaier’s outside, Allgaier moved up. Slowly.
The late block collected Hamlin, Blaney, defending Cup Series champion Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman, Shane van Gisbergen and many others. At least 20 cars were involved. Forty-one cars started the race and 40 were on track at the time of the crash.
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Allgaier races full-time in NASCAR’s second-tier O’Reilly Auto Parts Series for JR Motorsports. It was his second straight Daytona 500 racing for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s team, as it has attempted each of the past two 500s.
This year’s 500 was just Allgaier’s fifth Cup Series start in the past four seasons. Though he’s an O’Reilly Series champion and has finished in the top five in the standings in each of the past six seasons, it’s fair to wonder if his lack of experience in Cup Series cars helped lead to the crash. There was little reason for his block to happen so lackadaisically. He either needed to let Hamlin drive past or move up in front of him sooner.
It was the second big crash of the race in the tri-oval already. A wreck earlier in the second stage ruined the chances of contending for Chase Briscoe, Austin Dillon, Connor Zilisch and others. Allgaier was also slightly a part of that one as he and Zilisch made contact as the wreck began.
