By: Mitchell Breuer

Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race from Atlanta Motor Speedway proved to be a big day for Kaulig Racing, capturing their third win in the series with A.J. Allmendinger. That was not the lone bright spot for the team though, as Justin Haley was able to grab a third-place finish, his season-best so far.

“We fired off with great speed,” Haley said in a post-race Zoom press conference. “That is a testimony to Kaulig Racing, our engineering department getting the heights right, getting the setups right; they are doing a wonderful job.”

The day did not come without its adversity, as the driver of the No. 16 found himself having to make up ground on multiple occasions due to pit road penalties.

“We had an awesome first stage, came down pit road and had the front changer over the wall too soon, so we had to go to the back,” Haley said.“We gained it all back, had a decent second stage, and then I sped on pit road. Had to go all the way back through the field, then we were too loose to compete with Noah (Gragson) or A.J. (Allmendinger).”

Despite the setbacks, Haley proved to be solid throughout the entire race, gaining stage points after finishing third and seventh in each segment.The success is totally not a surprise, as he has shown speed in previous events, though ultimately putting it together to the checkered is something that Haley has struggled with, placing 29th in Charlotte and 17th in Bristol.

“It feels good to bring a car home from the racetrack that is not demolished,” Haley said.“I feel like me and Ross have been going through them but, when you are up there for the lead it is hard not to race that hard. It really takes a lot for me not to run outside the top-five. These cars have been so good the past few weeks. I am the same driver I have been for the last year and half, the cars are just that much better.”

Kaulig Racing’s improvement is something that Haley put a lot of emphasis on and believes the pieces are beginning to work, saying that they are “putting the right people in the right spot.”

Now after seeing his teammate win, Haley has confidence that his first victory in the series is coming soon.

“I think we can win any week,” Haley said.“I know we were kind of looked as the ‘underdogs’ but, I think we are proving that week in and week out. Charlotte, Ross had the best car of us, and he was racing for the lead. I was racing for the lead last week, and A.J. wins this week. With a little luck on our side, we are winning organization for sure. Maybe when I started here in 2019 it wasn’t but, throughout all of it we’ve gained speed, we’ve had a lot of hardworking people and, it’s nice to come to the track and have confidence that we do have that speed.”

Next weekend, Haley will head into Homestead-Miami Speedway seventh in points, with a shot at the Dash4Cash in the second of two Xfinity races at the track.