A Career Day for Spencer Gallagher at Daytona

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer

It was a long and rough day, but Spencer Gallagher still had career day in the PowerShares QQQ 300. Gallagher had both a career best qualifying effort and finish in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Although, he had to survive multiple overtime attempts on his way to a sixth-place finish.

Gallagher nearly didn’t make it to the finish at Daytona International Speedway. After avoiding ‘The Big One’ on the first overtime attempt, he found trouble in the second overtime event. Gallagher spun off the nose of Ross Chastain on the backstretch. His No. 23 Allegiant Airlines Chevrolet Camaro SS took a long, fast on the skid pad before nudging the inside wall. Luckily for Gallagher, the damage was minimal.

11 laps and three more overtime attempts later, Gallagher found himself back inside the top-10. Even with the damage to the left front of his Camaro, he was still able to power his way back up through traffic. In the chaotic run to the finish, Gallagher somehow wound up in the sixth position. His sixth-place finish came in a four-wide photo finish for the fourth-position.

The speed of Gallagher’s GMS Racing Camaro was evident as he ran up front the entire day. Two stage finishes inside the top-10 put him in position to have a chance at the victory in the final stage. A career-best qualifying effort of fourth also helped the Las Vegas, NV native stay up front with the leaders.

Gallagher Tweeted his gratitude to his team,

https://twitter.com/23SpeedRacer/status/965052175125708800

This was Gallagher’s third career top-10 finish and his first since the Spring Richmond race last year. The sixth-place finish combined with the Stage Points leaves Gallagher third in the Championship Standings, 11-points behind race winner Tyler Reddick.

Now Gallagher and his GMS Racing team will prepare for the Rinnai 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on February 24.