Justin Haley could solely be thirtieth within the NASCAR Cup Collection factors standings, however he is turning heads on a weekly foundation.
The 25-year-old driver collected a Thirteenth-place end at Iowa Speedway final Sunday, and he’ll look to place forth one other stable effort when the Cup Collection visits the New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday.
Thirteenth is probably not a banner day for the likes of Hendrick Motorsports or Joe Gibbs Racing, however for a Rick Ware group that has struggled to persistently break the highest 30 throughout their Cup Collection tenure, it marks huge enchancment.
Iowa wasn’t the one time Haley has impressed this season, nevertheless. At Bristol on March 17, he ran inside the highest 10 for a lot of the day earlier than tire administration grew to become the secret late. Whereas veterans akin to Denny Hamlin surged, the youthful crop of drivers pale, leaving Haley to complete Seventeenth.
One week later at Circuit of the Americas, Haley and the No. 51 group as soon as once more had a stable run and initially thought it had one other Seventeenth-place end. Sadly, a disqualification relegated the group to a Thirty ninth-place end, forcing Haley to lose 22 precious factors that may bump him as much as twenty sixth in factors.
Whereas the No. 51 group cooled off in April, the actual indicators of progress began to be proven at Kansas on Might 5. Whereas Haley completed a pedestrian 18th, the group parlayed one stable effort into their greatest end of the 12 months at Darlington, the place Haley each ran and completed inside the highest 10, grabbing a ninth-place effort at arguably the hardest monitor on the NASCAR circuit.
Whereas a Twenty second-place end in a rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 introduced Haley briefly again right down to earth, one other ninth-place effort adopted at Gateway. Whereas Sonoma bore little fruit, Iowa was a return to kind for a No. 51 group that’s persistently performing method above their paygrade.
Upgrading each driver and gear — Rick Ware Racing now has an alliance with Roush-Fenway-Keselowski Racing — actually has helped, however the group as a complete deserves credit score. For a lot of their quick tenure in NASCAR, they’d been the butt of jokes, solely talked about on broadcasts when certainly one of their vehicles was spinning or within the wall.
Now, Haley has turned the No. 51 group right into a professional dark-horse contender. Whereas it is unlikely that Haley grabs a miraculous win and makes the Cup Collection playoffs, RWR may turn out to be a borderline playoff risk if Haley stays within the coming years and helps develop a group as soon as considered condemned to the again of the pack.
