NASCAR Xfinity Series at Daytona 2017 Results: Winner, Standings and Reaction

In a race highlighted by several major wrecks, Ryan Reed prevailed Saturday to open the NASCAR Xfinity Series season with a win in the Powershares QQQ 300 at Daytona International Speedway.

Reed led nine laps en route to his second career Xfinity Series victory at Daytona, as he managed to hold off second-place finisher Kasey Kahne to take the checkered flag.

As seen in the following video courtesy of FS1, Reed crossed the start-finish line while chaos broke out behind him:

Here is a look at the top 10 performers, with full results for all 40 drivers available at NASCAR.com:

Position	Driver	Car No.
1	Ryan Reed	16
2	Kasey Kahne	88
3	Austin Dillon	2
4	Brad Keselowski	22
5	Brendan Gaughan	62
6	Scott Lagasse Jr.	24
7	Joey Gase	52
8	Garrett Smithley	0
9	William Byron	9
10	Harrison Rhodes	1

With one race in the books, Reed tops the Xfinity Series standings with a nine-point lead over Brendan Gaughan. Here is a rundown of the current top 10:

Position	Driver	Points	Behind Leader	Wins
1	Ryan Reed	47	Leader	1
2	Brendan Gaughan	38	-9	0
3	Elliott Sadler	33	-14	0
4	Scott Lagasse Jr.	31	-16	0
5	Matt Tifft	31	-16	0
6	Dakoda Armstrong	31	-16	0
7	Joey Gase	30	-17	0
8	Garrett Smithley	29	-18	0
9	Blake Koch	29	-18	0
10	William Byron	28	-19	0

Saturday's race rewarded those who were skilled and fortunate enough to avoid crashes, as only 20 of 40 cars remained on the track at the conclusion of the event.

Brad Keselowski was in control during the early going by leading nine of the first 10 laps, but one miscue can prove catastrophic at Daytona, and it resulted in him getting shuffled back several positions, as seen in this video courtesy of Fox Sports: NASCAR:

The fireworks truly began on lap No. 23, however, as the first of many big wrecks occurred when Tyler Reddick and Scott Lagasse Jr. traded paint.

A total of 20 cars were involved in the incident, which resulted in a red flag temporarily stopping the race:

The action resumed following a lengthy cleanup process, but it wasn't long before the race was forced to be halted again.

On the 29th lap, Daniel Hemric knocked Justin Allgaier off-kilter, and the result was a 12-car pileup that claimed several top contenders:

Of the drivers who were knocked out of the race, Allgaier, Erik Jones, Darrell Wallace Jr., Brandon Jones and 2016 Xfinity Series champion Daniel Suarez all qualified for the inaugural NASCAR Xfinity Series Chase last season.

Following the crash, Suarez felt as though the drivers made some tactical errors, per Joe Menzer of FoxSports.com: "It was way too early to be racing each other that hard."

According to Tom Jensen of FoxSports.com, NASCAR Cup Series driver Kevin Harvick expressed his belief that inexperience was to blame for the accidents:

No one driver was able to establish any type of dominance following the crashes, as Keselowski, Kahne, Reed, Austin Dillon, Elliott Sadler and Gaughan were among those to lead several laps.

Sadler led the most laps with 40, but he crashed out with 17 laps to go while running in third place:

With Reed in the lead with just three laps remaining, another wreck occurred, which forced the race to go into overtime.

Reed maintained his lead after the restart and managed to stay in front of several Cup Series regulars in Kahne, Dillon and Keselowski to win the race.

Although there is a long season ahead, the win is a significant one for Reed since it likely locks him into the Xfinity Series Chase.

Also, with the likes of Suarez, Jones and Ty Dillon racing for Cup Series points in 2017, Reed may have established himself as the favorite to win the Xfinity championship.

Post-Race Reaction

In the wake of his second win at Daytona, Reed revealed that his first victory at the track two years ago was key in helping him accomplish the feat once again Saturday, according to Menzer: "I know so many people told me my first win here was inspirational. That drove me to try to get back to victory lane here."

Reed admitted that his performance was far from perfect, but he never lost confidence in his ability to win, per Reid Spencer of NASCAR.com:

"

I started out pretty aggressive and made some mistakes and ended up in the back of the pack. I knew if I was there at the end it doesn't matter where you are at, you will have a shot.

I reminded myself of that, took a deep breath, bided my time and found my way to the front at the end. Everyone was so aggressive. This new format is breeding a lot of aggression—there's a ton of incentive.

"

The win may have been a career-defining moment for Reed, as he legitimately out-raced several Cup Series veterans en route to another season-opening triumph.