Crashes have become a part of Daytona. The United Rentals 300 at Daytona marked the season-opening NASCAR Xfinity race and was full of drama and wreckage. This time, it was a major miscommunication with the spotter that ensured Kris Wright went full-speed into the pit road, at least according to the driver himself. However, he wasn’t the only one who got damaged in this wreck. 

“I knew he was going to do something stupid this year, — this week — I just wish it wasn’t to us,” Josh Bilicki said as he spoke of the accident. What’s more bizarre than the incident itself is Wright’s reasoning behind the crash.

Pit road miscalculations and an unexpected bang

With 30 laps remaining, a group of Chevrolets were preparing to pit. This is when Kris Wright came in way too hot, plowing into pit road traffic ahead of him. Josh Bilicki took the brunt of the impact from the #5 Chevrolet. His No. 92 Chevrolet absorbed a heavy hit as Wright barreled in like a runaway freight train. Even Ryan Truex’s bumper was grazed by Wright as his car continued into the infield, eventually slowing to a halt. 

Over the radio, Wright immediately claimed, “Super bad miscommunication with the spotter.” However, the broadcast booth wasn’t buying it. NASCAR veterans Parker Kligerman and Jamie McMurray were quick to point out the obvious. “That’s not missing your braking point… It looks like he had no brakes,” was the conversation in the broadcast booth and it looks like they were right. In an attempt to explain the bizarre chain of events, Wright later told The CW, “We had a braking issue on pit row the stop before, and we were planning on getting the brakes a little sooner getting out of turn four, coming to turn four. It was unfortunate the way it happened.” 

While it ended the race for Wright, a furious Josh Bilicki was able to manage a P14. The radio for the No. 91 team could be heard saying, “That stupid mother f—– (inaudible)… we’ll worry about that a—— later.”

To make things even stranger, Wright’s pit road fiasco was not the only weird crash of the day. Just hours earlier, on the cool-down lap of the ARCA Menards Series race, Helio Castroneves was sent crashing into the Turn 1 wall. All thanks to A.J. Moyer. He later claimed he lost radio communication with his spotter. Maybe Daytona was just cursed with bad communications on Saturday! 

Jesse Love took the win as chaos dominated the NASCAR Xfinity Series opener

Wright banging into Bilicki was not the only chaos that had erupted on the tracks during the United Rentals 300. The final stretch of the race turned into a wreck-fest, with three major crashes occurring in the last 13 laps. In an overtime restart, Jesse Love entered the final turn, poised to take the white flag heading into the final lap. However, just as Love took the flag, chaos erupted behind him, as Justin Allgaier triggered a multi-car wreck, invoking a caution.

Love waited with bated breath to get confirmation if he got the white flag before the caution, and the Richard Childress Racing pit crew erupted when they got word that he did. Jesse Love secured RCR’s 10th Xfinity Series win at Daytona International Speedway. However, the pole setter for this race was less than happy to have caused the abrupt end to the race.

The decisive incident came in overtime when Justin Allgaier, battling around sixth place, made contact with Taylor Gray. The bump threw Allgaier’s car off balance, sending him down into Jordan Anderson’s No. 32 Chevrolet. From there, a chain reaction of destruction unfolded, with sparks flying and body panels scattering across the track. 

Allgaier told FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass, “Causing that last wreck was not how I wanted our night to end… I should have pulled left a little earlier but at the end of the day just a really frustrating night. The car had speed, you know, the team did a great job.” Allgaier ended the race in 18th place. Not the greatest start to defending his NASCAR Xfinity Series title.

A seasoned veteran, Allgaier was disappointed in himself for ruining the night of many drivers and teams who will have to spend a lot of resources on repairs. “I’ll own the mistake, I feel bad for everybody that got a car torn up in the end… the last thing you want to do is tear up a bunch of equipment, especially coming to the white.” While Allgaier wallows in his errors, Love celebrates a well-deserved win for RCR. However, Allgaier has a shot at redemption as he will take on the Daytona 500 on Sunday as JR Motorsports make their Cup Series debut!