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Daytona Proves Beneficial to Xfinity Points Mid-Packers

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — As usual, Friday night’s (Aug. 23) NASCAR Xfinity Series race left some people making that same face that one makes when they taste something good, but they don’t exactly know what it is.

A few underdogs rose to the occasion, stayed clean and turned in a mighty respectable finish while also retaining a car to take to Talladega later this year.

All of these drivers sat below 15th in the points standings before their finishes at Daytona International Speedway.

Jordan Anderson

In just his fourth start of the season, Jordan Anderson turned in one of the more impressive performances of his career. The driver-turned-team-owner-turned-occasional-driver for the night brought the No. 32 home in sixth place for a top-10 finish.

Whereas the others in this list are all full-time drivers in the Xfinity Series, Anderson is only running superspeedways (Atlanta included) this year, and it’s panned out. He finished fourth in the season’s first race at Daytona, after all.

See also
Ryan Truex Snags Daytona Xfinity Win

Kyle Sieg

After ending up on his roof last week at Michigan International Speedway, Kyle Sieg was able to notch a top 15, if only just, this week at Daytona.

“We just wanted to finish on all four wheels and have a good, solid top-15 run with no damage, and that’s what we did,” Sieg told Frontstretch post-race. “We just stuck with our plan, said we were going to ride, and that’s what we did. It sucks riding, but we kind of have to do what we have to do after last week.”

Sieg came in to the race 24th in points with 19 starts under his belt in the No. 28, a solid day for a middle-of-the-pack team to build on.

Leland Honeyman

Out of all the underdogs to make a solid finish, Leland Honeyman‘s car was the cleanest. Coming in to the race in 20th in points, Honeyman’s ninth-place finish does plenty toward the good of his position in the standings.

“Honestly, just keeping clean cars [will help us build momentum],” Honeyman said. “We took that three weeks off and I did a lot of mental strengthening throughout that break. And honestly, I wasn’t wrecking a lot of cars, but we were on the verge of saying that, so I didn’t want to have to do that these last 13 weeks. I want to avoid as much [wrecking] as I can and avoid putting myself in those situations. … Coming back from this break, finishing 12th and now ninth, I think we’re doing pretty good.”

Josh Williams

Josh Williams serves as the final underdog award winner of the night, as he brought his No. 11 home 11th, just outside the top 10. But he was, as he said, “able to drive it in the trailer and haul it to Talladega.”

Whether or not race fans believe in moral victories is one conversation to have, but Williams is not in that crowd. He said he fully believed he could take a sense of pride in coming home in a respectable finish with a clean racecar.

“I didn’t have to go to the infield care center this time, so that’s pretty cool,” he said. “We’ve got speed. We’ve got really good speed, so we’ll go on to Darlington [Raceway], and I love that place, so we’re going to try something a little different. We weren’t very good there last time, so hopefully we’ll be better this time.”

Williams and the rest of the underdogs will do just that and head to Darlington with their heads held high.

After all, all they need is some new stickers and they’re ready for Talladega.

About the author

Tanner Marlar is a staff writer for Sports Illustrated’s Cowbell Corner, an AP Wire reporter, an award-winning sports columnist and talk show host and master's student at Mississippi State University. Soon, Tanner will be pursuing a PhD. in Mass Media Studies. Tanner began working with Frontstretch as an Xfinity Series columnist in 2022.

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