Two wrecks in the first two stages of the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway set back a trio of Chase bubble drivers Friday night (live on The CW, ESPN Unlimited, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio),
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At Lap 27 of 100, Patrick Staropoli went around in Turn 3 after a push gone awry from Jeremy Clements, spinning up the track and collecting Chase contenders Brent Crews and Sam Mayer. Crews suffered heavy front-end damage after contacting Staropoli’s No. 48 Big Machine Racing Chevrolet. Mayer was hit from behind by Staropoli and slapped the outside wall.
Both Crews and Mayer came down pit road for repairs. Crews, driver of Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 19 Toyota, went to the garage while Mayer’s No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet kept rolling and stayed on the lead lap.
That crash ended Stage 1 prematurely. At Lap 45, Anthony Alfredo and Corey Day made contact down the frontstretch, sending Sammy Smith around and into bubble driver William Sawalich and involving several others. Sawalich suffered massive front-end damage, forcing the Joe Gibbs Racing driver to the garage.
Mayer entered Friday’s regular-season finale 19 points above the cutline. Sawalich and teammate Crews — who missed four races earlier this season before turning 18 — entered just one point to the good over teammate Taylor Gray.
This story will be updated.
