Saturday will bring about the Coke Zero Sugar 400. But before we get there, Friday featured plenty of NASCAR racing at Daytona International Speedway, too.

The track hosted two rounds of qualifying — for the Xfinity Series at 3 p.m. and the Cup Series at 5:05 p.m. After those wrapped up, the Xfinity Series took the stage for the Wawa 250, which Ryan Truex won.

GREAT AMERICAN READ Celebrate a fast-paced history of the Daytona 500 with new book; foreword by Richard Petty

Ryan Truex wins Wawa 250 as another crash breaks out on final lap

Ryan Truex took the checkered and yellow flags together Friday night to win the Wawa 250, after one final crash erupted shortly after the leaders went under the white flag to begin the final lap.

Truex, driving part-time in the Xfinity Series for Joe Gibbs Racing this year, was ahead of the pack entering Turn 1 when AJ Allmendinger, running second, didn't survived a push from third-place Parker Kligerman once Kligerman began an attempt to move underneath Allmendinger and Allmendinger darted left to stay in front of him.

Allmendinger lost control, darted down the track and then back up to the outside wall as others were gathered in.

"I felt good this week coming in," Truex said. "I felt we'd have a shot."

Truex is the younger brother of Cup Series racer Martin Truex Jr.

'Big One' hits in Stage 3, then another, brings out red flag

A multi-car crash slowed things with 23 laps remaining in the Wawa 250.

The 100-lap race had reached the final 10 laps with AJ Allmendinger leading, when another big wreck took out several cars.

Eventually, the race was stopped in order to clean the track under red-flag conditions. When things resume, it'll finish with a two-lap overtime shootout.

Second stage of Wawa 250 ends under yellow

Justin Allgaier worked his way back to the front and yet again led after Stage 2 of the Wawa 250 at Daytona International Speedway.

Coming to the end of Lap 29 of the 30-lap stage, Allgaier was leading when the yellow was triggered behind him. Jesse Love and Anthony Alfredo made contact and Alfredo ended up slapping the wall coming through the tri-oval dogleg near the stripe.

Forty laps remain in the 100-lap event.

First stage of Wawa 250 complete at Daytona

Things calmed down after a first-lap crash and the 30-lap Stage 1 is complete.

Justin Allgaier, in a Chevy, won the first stage, finishing ahead of Chandler Smith, AJ Allmendinger, Sheldon Creed and Parker Kligerman as the stage-ending caution flag flew.

Wawa 250 starts, then stops (yes, for a crash)

Barely halfway through Lap 1 of the Xfinity Series race and the yellow is waving.

A handful of cars near the middle of the pack got bottled up entering Turn 3, bringing out the first of what might be several caution flags tonight.

Among those damaged was the No. 21 Chevy of Austin Hill, who won at Daytona in February, as well as the following week at Atlanta.

Michael McDowell on the pole, Todd Gilliland also on front row

Michael McDowell won pole qualifying this afternoon with a lap average of 183.165 mph. Todd Gilliland was next fastest at 182.801.

Rounding out the top 10: Joey Logano, Ryan Preece, Josh Berry, Chase Briscoe, William Byron, Austin Cindric, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott.

The six fastest drivers, and seven of the top 10, were in Fords. The other three drove Chevrolets.

POLE QUALIFYING NASCAR qualifying ends at Daytona for Coke Zero Sugar 400. Lineup set for Saturday race

Cup Series qualifying begins

The sun snuck back out and allowed Cup Series qualifying to commence at 5:15. What will the Coke Zero Sugar 400 starting grid look like? We'll find out shortly.

Bubba Wallace on the playoff bubble

Of course, the first question to Bubba Wallace during Friday’s media scrum revolved around his current placement in the Cup Series playoff standings.

He sits 17th, one point behind Ross Chastain for the 16th and final postseason spot. Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 is the second-last race of the regular season.

Is he nervous about it?

“No,” Wallace said. “We’re here in Daytona, and it’s going to be a good weekend.”

Short and sweet.

Xfinity lineup for Wawa 250 set

Lightning ends Xfinity qualifying after only one round. Chandler Smith will begin on the pole.

Here is the full grid.

Row 1

• 1. Chandler Smith, No. 81

• 2. Austin Hill, No. 21

Row 2

• 3. AJ Allmendinger, No. 16

• 4. Joe Graf Jr., No. 19

Row 3

• 5. Jesse Love, No. 2

• 6. Ryan Truex, No. 20

Row 4

• 7. Sheldon Creed, No. 18

• 8. Riley Herbst, No. 98

Row 5

• 9. Anthony Alfredo, No. 5

• 10. Josh Williams, No. 11

Row 6

• 11. Justin Allgaier, No. 7

• 12. Parker Kligerman, No. 48

Row 7

• 13. Jeremy Clements, No. 51

• 14. Cole Custer, No. 00

Row 8

• 15. Parker Retzlaff, No. 31

• 16. Brandon Jones, No. 9

Row 9

• 17. Caesar Bacarella, No. 45

• 18. Kyle Weatherman, No. 91

Row 10

• 19. Shane Van Gisbergen, No. 97

• 20. Leland Honeyman, No. 42

Row 11

• 21. Jeb Burton, No. 27

• 22. Jeffery Earnhardt, No. 26

Row 12

• 23. Patrick Emerling, No. 07

• 24. Sammy Smith, No. 8

Row 13

• 25. Jordan Anderson, No. 32

• 26. Ryan Sieg, No. 39

Row 14

• 27. Gus Dean, No. 15

• 28. Matt DiBenedetto, No. 38

Row 15

• 29. Blaine Perkins, No. 29

• 30. CJ McLaughlin, No. 14

Row 16

• 31. Brennan Poole, No. 44

• 32. Akinori Ogata, No. 35

Row 17

• 33. Josh Bilicki, No. 92

• 34. Kyle Sieg, No. 28

Row 18

• 35. Joey Gase, No. 53

• 36. Ryan Ellis, No. 43

Row 19

• 37. Tim Viens, No. 74

• 38. Sam Mayer, No. 1

Dennis Quaid talks Richard Petty movie that never came about

Dennis Quaid, while at Daytona promoting the upcoming movie “Reagan,” the subject of Ronald Reagan’s 1984 visit to watch Richard Petty win the Firecracker 400 came up. And the veteran actor dropped a little nugget about what might’ve been 20+ years ago.

“We were gonna do a movie about Richard Petty,” he said.

Disney’s Hollywood team was kicking around the idea, and it got far enough that Quaid went to Homestead at the end of the 2003 season to visit with Petty and get to know him.

“He was very genuine, authentic,” Quaid said.

What went wrong? Turns out, Disney’s bean counters eventually learned how much it would cost to gather enough vintage cars to make the racing scenes.

“Disney realized they were gonna have to get some vintage cars, and the budget probably doubled,” Quaid said. “It didn’t get off the ground, dammit.”

Daniel Dye lands full-time Xfinity ride for 2025

Daniel Dye is no stranger to Kaulig Racing's No. 10 Chevrolet entry in the Xfinity Series, since he's run a partial season with the team this year.

The relationship will continue in 2025, but on a full-time basis. Friday at Daytona, Dye's promotion from NASCAR's Truck Series to Xfinity was announced, and the 20-year-old DeLand native was obviously excited for the opportunity.

“I’ve really enjoyed driving the Xfinity car this year, and I’m excited for the opportunity to continue working with Kaulig Racing in 2025,” he said. “It’s been a fun experience learning the car and trying to navigate the different feeling compared to the truck."

Dye is in his second full-time season in the Truck Series, driving the No. 43 Chevy.

Xfinity Series qualifying is underway

We have movement at Daytona International Speedway! Xfinity Series qualifying started, under sunny skies, at approximately 3:05 p.m.

Ty Gibbs talks "Reagan" sponsorship, meeting Dennis Quaid

A few weeks ago, 21-year-old Ty Gibbs had never seen a Dennis Quaid movie.

Then, he fired up Netflix and did some homework.

Quaid will play Ronald Reagan, the 40th president of the United States, in the upcoming biopic, “Reagan,” which will hit theaters Aug. 30. To hype the movie’s release, the production company bought the rights to Gibbs’ No. 54 Toyota for Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

The Reagan surname will adorn the side and hood of Gibbs’ ride, along with images of Quaid in character.

“I feel like this is the best place to do it,” Gibbs said. “It's a cool race track. The audience is great here, always. Hopefully, we have a great weekend and can have a clean race and play it safe and be there at the end.”

He recently hung out with Quaid at the Joe Gibbs Racing shop. Both like the look of the car.

“First off, that car looks so good the way they came up with that,” Quaid said. “It's pretty incredible.”

Nine Xfinity cars flunk multiple inspections

Pre-race inspections are complete ahead of the Xfinity Series Wawa 250 at Daytona International Speedway.

The following cars failed multiple inspections.

• No. 5

• No. 7

• No. 27

• No. 29

• No. 35

• No. 38

• No. 39

• No. 53

• No. 98

Seven of the field’s 38 cars passed on their first attempt. Twenty-two more succeeded on their second attempt. None failed three times.

What is the Coke Zero Sugar 400 starting grid?

The starting grids for Friday's Xfinity Series Wawa 250 and Saturday's Cup Series Coke Zero Sugar 400 will be determined at the end of Friday's qualifying.

Daytona Beach weather update

Some clouds are hovering above Daytona International Speedway, but no water yet. Here is the National Weather Service's latest forecast for the rest of Friday.

This afternoon: A chance of showers and thunderstorms, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 2 p.m. Mostly cloudy, with a high temperature near 87. East wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Tonight: A 30% chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 5 a.m. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 74. East southeast wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.

Friday's NASCAR schedule at Daytona International Speedway

3 p.m.: Qualifying for Wawa 250 Xfinity Series race

5:05 p.m.: Qualifying for Coke Zero Sugar 400 Cup Series race

7:30 p.m.: Wawa 250

How to watch the Wawa 250

All Xfinity and Cup Series qualifying laps and the Wawa 250 will air on the USA Network.

COKE ZERO SUGAR 400: Ronald Reagan coming to Daytona for NASCAR race and has a car, kinda-sorta

When is the Coke Zero Sugar 400?

The Coke Zero Sugar 400 will take place at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Daytona International Speedway.  NBC will broadcast the race with radio coverage from MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Wawa 250: Ryan Truex wins Xfinity race at Daytona