Spencer Gallagher and the No. 23 Allegiant team showed speed early on at Daytona International Speedway, finishing third in the opening practice session before a left rear tire went down, sending Gallagher down the track, making contact with the No. 00 of Cole Custer. The team assessed the damage, but it was too severe to fix, causing the team to pull out the backup car. They spent the remainder of first practice working on the backup car and were able to get Gallagher back out on track for the final practice of the day.
Friday night, Gallagher started the Coca-Cola Firecracker 250 from the 22nd position. On the start, Gallagher dropped back to the 34th position, where he stayed until the rain began to fall and the field was placed under the red flag. With the rain not letting up, NASCAR rescheduled the race to continue Saturday at noon.
On Saturday, weather was a factor again causing the start time to be pushed back 30 minutes. When the race finally went back green, Gallagher ended up restarting the race from the 26th position after a handful of cars in front of him pitted before the restart on lap 14. Gallagher dropped back into the 33rd position and reported to the No. 23 Allegiant team that he was tight off of turn four. After stage one ended, crew chief Joey Cohen called Gallagher to pit road for four tires, fuel, wedge and a track bar adjustment, restarting 38th.
After the restart on lap 35, rain began to fall again bringing out the red flag just two laps later. The field was under red flag conditions for another two hours and 30 minutes. When the field returned to green, Gallagher ran within the top-25 until a caution on lap 51. Gallagher came to pit road for four tires, fuel and a track bar adjustment to help the tight condition he was still battling. He restarted in the 23rd position on lap 58.
Gallagher worked through the field until he reached the 10th position, just before stage two concluded, earning himself one playoff point. Gallagher did not pit and restarted in the sixth position on lap 66. After the restart Gallagher reached as high as the fifth position but lost drafting help and fell back as far as 33rd-place. The caution came out on lap 87 allowing Gallagher to pit for right side tires, fuel and a wedge adjustment, restarting 26th on lap 91.
Gallagher battled through the field reaching the 17th position when he was almost involved in an incident that brought out the red flag again on lap 100, but made it through unscathed, restarting from the sixth position. Overtime rules went into effect before the race concluded, lining the field up for one final restart. Battling for position, Gallagher was involved in a last-lap incident, relegating him to a 24th-place result.
Quote:
“It’s really disappointing that our day ended like it did. We had a really fast Allegiant Chevy today and I want to thank my team for their hard work all weekend. We overcame a lot and I could not have done it without them. We will keep our heads up and head to Kentucky (Speedway) next weekend.”
GMS Racing PR
