Justin C. Haley (born April 28, 1999) is an American professional
stock car racing
Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It ori ...
driver and businessman. He competes full-time in the
NASCAR Cup Series
The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971, ...
, driving the No. 31
Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for
Kaulig Racing. He previously went by his nickname J. J. Haley, until he switched to his first name in January 2016 to avoid confusion with fellow competitor
J. J. Yeley
Christopher Beltram Hernandez "J. J." Yeley (born October 5, 1976) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the Nos. 13 and 66 cars for MBM Motorsports and part-time in ...
. Haley owns
Dirt Late Model and
Dirt Modified Chassis Manufacturer,
Darkhorse Racecars.
Haley took a shock win in the
2019 Coke Zero Sugar 400
The 2019 Coke Zero Sugar 400 was a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race that was held on July 7, 2019 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Contested over 127 of the scheduled 160 laps on the superspeedway, it was the 18th ...
at
Daytona Daytona refers to the city of Daytona Beach, Florida, or things named after it.
Daytona may also refer to:
Locations
* Daytona Beach Shores, Florida
* South Daytona, Florida
* The Daytona Beach metropolitan area
* Halifax area, also known as Da ...
in just his third career Cup Series start due to being in the lead, through pit strategy, under caution when lightning and eventual rain hit the area. After scoring his first Xfinity victory in 2020, Haley became the 32nd driver to win a race in all three NASCAR national touring series.
Racing career
Haley began his racing career at age nine, in Quarter Midgets at
Kokomo Quarter Midget Club during the late summer months of 2008. In 2009 and 2010, he scored the KQMC, Indiana State Series and, in 2011, the Light 160 State Championships.
Regional series
In 2014, Haley ran three
K&N Pro Series East races, recording a best finish of seventh at
Dover International Speedway. The next year, he joined
HScott Motorsports
HScott Motorsports was an American professional stock car racing team that last competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the Xfinity Series, the K&N Pro Series East and the ARCA Racing Series. The organization was owned by North Carolina bus ...
to compete full-time in the Pro Series East, competing for Rookie of the Year honors. In 2016, Haley recorded his first career Pro Series East win at
Greenville-Pickens Speedway. Haley won his first Pro Series East championship in 2016 after finishing in the top-ten in all 14 races, the only driver to do so in series history.
Truck Series
In 2015, Haley made his
Camping World Truck Series
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of th ...
debut at Bristol with
Braun Motorsports
Braun Motorsports, formerly known as Braun Racing, was an American professional stock car racing team that last competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The team is based in Mooresville, North Carolina. Best known as one of the top ...
, driving the No. 32
Chevrolet Silverado
The Chevrolet Silverado is a range of trucks manufactured by General Motors under the Chevrolet brand. Introduced for the 1999 model year, the Silverado is the successor to the long running Chevrolet C/K model line. Taking its name from th ...
and finishing 14th. His following Truck race at
Martinsville Speedway ended when he was involved in a crash on lap 119. At
Phoenix International Raceway
Phoenix Raceway is a 1-mile, low-banked tri-oval race track located in Avondale, Arizona, near Phoenix. The motorsport track opened in 1964 and currently hosts two NASCAR race weekends annually including the final championship race since 2020. P ...
, Haley recorded his first top ten, when he finished in seventh. On December 9, 2016, it was announced that Haley would drive the No. 24 truck for
GMS Racing in 2017, starting with the third race of the year.
Haley joined GMS full-time in 2017, driving the No. 24 Silverado. However, Haley missed the first two races – the
NextEra Energy Resources 250
The NextEra Energy 250 is the first race of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season at Daytona International Speedway and as of 2004 has been held under the lights. It is the Truck Series event of Speedweeks – the series of races leading u ...
at
Daytona International Speedway
Daytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race in NASCAR as well as its season opening event. In addition to NA ...
and the
Active Pest Control 200
The Fr8Auctions 208 is a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race held at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It was initially held from 2004 until 2012 and taken off the schedule in 2013. The race returned to the schedule in 2015 and since then has been held o ...
at
Atlanta Motor Speedway
Atlanta Motor Speedway (formerly known Atlanta International Raceway from 1960 to 1990) is a 1.54-mile entertainment facility in Hampton, Georgia, United States, 20 miles (32 km) south of Atlanta. It has annually hosted NASCAR Cup Series ...
– due to NASCAR's age restriction.
Scott Lagasse Jr.
Scott E. Lagasse Jr. (; born January 31, 1981) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He formerly drove in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. He is the son of former sports car and NASCAR driver Scott Lagasse Sr.
He is the owne ...
and
Alex Bowman
Alex Michael Bowman (born April 25, 1993) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports, part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Seri ...
replaced Haley at Daytona and Atlanta, respectively. He missed the playoffs and finished 12th in the final point standings. In 2018, he earned his first career win at Gateway in June, locking him into the playoffs for the first time. Haley would get his second win of the season at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, after leaders
Todd Gilliland and
Noah Gragson took each other out in the final corner. In Texas, he got his third win after race leader Gilliland ran out of fuel on the last lap. As a result of these two wins, Haley qualified for the playoff finale at Homestead. Haley finished third in the points standings, after finishing 8th at Homestead.
Haley returned to GMS and the Truck Series in July 2020 at Texas.
Xfinity Series
In June 2018, Haley made his
NASCAR Xfinity Series
The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...
debut at
Iowa Speedway, driving the No. 23 for GMS Racing while filling for
Spencer Gallagher
Spencer Gallagher (born November 20, 1989) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series, driving the No. 23 Toyota Camry for BK Racing, part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity S ...
. He would go on to finish 12th.
Haley drove the No. 24 car at Daytona in July 2018 for
GMS Racing, where he unofficially won the race ahead of
Kyle Larson and
Elliott Sadler. However, it was revealed that Haley went below the double yellow line to pass both of the leaders just before the finish line and NASCAR ruled Haley's pass illegal after the race, giving Larson the win, while Haley finished 18th.
On December 1, 2018, it was announced that Haley signed a multi-year deal to drive the No. 11 full-time for
Kaulig Racing in 2019, replacing
Ryan Truex
Ryan M. Truex (born March 18, 1992) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 19 Toyota Supra for Joe Gibbs Racing. Truex's older brother Martin was the 2017 ...
. He finished second in the 2019 Daytona July race to Kaulig teammate
Ross Chastain. Haley qualified for the Xfinity playoffs, but was eliminated after the Round of 8. He ended the 2019 season 12th in points with 20 top tens.
In June 2020, Haley scored his first Xfinity victory at
Talladega Superspeedway after starting on the pole and winning the first stage. He became the 32nd driver to win a race in all three NASCAR national series.
On October 19, 2020, Haley and Kaulig announced a third season together in 2021. Haley missed the Dover race in May due to
COVID-19 protocols and was replaced by
Zane Smith.
On August 28th, 2021, Haley scored his only victory of the 2021 Xfinity season by winning at the July Daytona race for the second year in a row; this time over teammate
A. J. Allmendinger
Anthony James "A. J." Allmendinger (born December 16, 1981) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 16 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Kaulig Racing.
Allmendinger's professi ...
by .023 seconds.
Cup Series
In April 2019, Haley joined
Spire Motorsports' No. 77 for his
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971, ...
debut in the
GEICO 500 at
Talladega Superspeedway. With seven laps remaining, he was collected in a crash with
Matt DiBenedetto
Matthew Guido DiBenedetto (born July 27, 1991) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 25 Chevrolet Silverado for Rackley WAR.
Racing career Early care ...
,
Chris Buescher, and
Martin Truex Jr.
Martin Lee Truex Jr. (born June 29, 1980) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 19 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. He is the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Serie ...
, finishing the race in 32nd. He returned to the team at
Sonoma Raceway in June, finishing 34th.
For Daytona's
2019 Coke Zero Sugar 400
The 2019 Coke Zero Sugar 400 was a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race that was held on July 7, 2019 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Contested over 127 of the scheduled 160 laps on the superspeedway, it was the 18th ...
, he qualified 34th. In the race, with around 30 laps to go,
Austin Dillon and
Clint Bowyer tangled, causing "
The Big One". Haley, in 27th, narrowly avoided it and sneaked into 3rd. Race leader
Kurt Busch
Kurt Thomas Busch (born August 4, 1978) is an American professional auto racing driver. He last competed full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 45 Toyota Camry TRD for 23XI Racing. He is the 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champion and the ...
and second-place
Landon Cassill would pit under caution but Haley did not, inheriting the lead just before lightning struck near the race track, red-flagging the race. After hours of red flag conditions, the race was called, securing Haley's first Cup win in his third start and Spire's first win in their maiden season. Since Haley was accepting points for the 2019 Xfinity Series, and was not competing full-time in the Cup Series, he was not eligible for the 2019 Cup playoffs.
On January 10, 2020, Kaulig Racing announced Haley would drive for the team at the
Daytona 500
The Daytona 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series motor race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is the first of two Cup races held every year at Daytona, the second being the Coke Zero Sugar 400, and one of three ...
in the No. 16. On February 9, Haley made the field by posting the fastest qualifying speed of all the non-charter teams (190.018 mph; 31st overall). After starting 33rd, he was involved in a lap 184 wreck that resulted in a red flag but finished 13th. In July, Haley rejoined Spire for the
2020 NASCAR All-Star Race
The 2020 NASCAR All-Star Race (XXXVI) was a NASCAR Cup Series stock car NASCAR All-Star Race, exhibition race that was originally scheduled to be held on May 16, 2020 and was rescheduled on July 15, 2020, at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Ten ...
at Bristol, having qualified via his 2019 Daytona win; he finished 14th.
Haley was offered a contract by Spire for the
2021 NASCAR Cup Series
The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series was the 73rd season for NASCAR professional stock car racing in the United States and the 50th season for the modern era Cup Series. The season started at Daytona International Speedway with the Busch Clash, wher ...
season. When COVID-19 protocols forced him to miss the
Drydene 400
The DuraMAX Drydene 400 presented by RelaDyne is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held annually at Dover Motor Speedway in Dover, Delaware in the spring.
History
The 2020 race was postponed to August due to the COVID-19 pandemic and became ...
at Dover,
Josh Berry
Joshua W. Berry (born October 22, 1990) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro for JR Motorsports. Berry has also competed for JRM in late model ...
took over the No. 77.
Haley ran 31 races during the season; 30 races for Spire in the No. 77 and one race for Kaulig in the No. 16.
In June 2021, Kaulig Racing announced in junction with going full-time in the Cup Series in 2022 that Haley will race full-time in one of the teams' two charters. On December 15, 2021 Kaulig Racing revealed that Haley will drive the No. 31 entry for the team.
Personal life
Haley is the nephew of Todd Braun, owner of Braun Motorsports.
He lives in North Carolina. He is one of four children, with two younger sisters and an older brother.
Haley has gone vegan for stretches of time.
Motorsports career results
NASCAR
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
) (
Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
Cup Series
=Daytona 500
=
Xfinity Series
Camping World Truck Series
K&N Pro Series East
K&N Pro Series West
Season still in progress
Ineligible for series points
ARCA Racing Series
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
) (
Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haley, Justin
Living people
1999 births
People from Pulaski County, Indiana
Racing drivers from Indiana
ARCA Menards Series drivers
NASCAR drivers
CARS Tour drivers