Race Results

NASCAR Xfinity Series

Sparks 300

Talladega Superspeedway

October 2nd, 2021

Race #28 of the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Season

Laps Scheduled: 113
- Shortened to 107 laps
Miles Raced : 284.6
Time of Race : 02 Hours 04 minutes 55 seconds
Average Speed: 128.486 mph
Margin of Victory : Under caution
Cautions: 5
Caution Laps: 21
Lead Changes: 33
Cars in Race : 40
Finished On Lead Lap: 22 (55%)

Brandon Brown walks with the checkered flag — Talladega, Alabama - October 2nd, 2021: Brandon Brown, driver of the #68 The Original Larry's Hard Lemonade Chevrolet, walks with the checkered flag after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series Sparks 300 at Talladega Superspeedway. Photo by Sean Gardner | Getty Images

FIN	ST	Car #	Driver	Make	TOT PTS	F PTS	B PTS	PO PTS	Laps	Led	x Led	S1	S2	STUS
1	19	68	Brandon Brown	Chevrolet	40	40	0	5	107	8	1	0	0	Running
2	7	19	Brandon Jones	Toyota	38	35	3	0	107	12	3	8	0	Running
3	1	7	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	44	34	10	0	107	7	2	7	5	Running
4	6	18	Daniel Hemric	Toyota	34	33	1	0	107	0	0	10	0	Running
5	29	31	Jordan Anderson	Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	107	0	0	0	0	Running
6	8	11	Justin Haley	Chevrolet	34	31	3	0	107	0	0	0	8	Running
7	14	10	Jeb Burton	Chevrolet	44	30	14	0	107	7	3	2	6	Running
8	2	22	Austin Cindric	Ford	38	29	9	0	107	10	5	4	9	Running
9	3	1	Josh Berry	Chevrolet	28	28	0	0	107	3	2	0	0	Running
10	40	7	Joe Graf Jr	Chevrolet	27	27	0	0	107	1	1	0	0	Running
11	17	39	Ryan Sieg	Ford	26	26	0	0	107	0	0	0	0	Running
12	26	48	Jade Buford	Chevrolet	25	25	0	0	107	0	0	0	0	Running
13	23	23	Blaine Perkins	Chevrolet	36	24	12	1	107	2	1	9	1	Running
14	24	92	Josh Williams	Chevrolet	23	23	0	0	107	0	0	0	0	Running
15	39	52	Joey Gase	Toyota	22	22	0	0	107	0	0	0	0	Running
16	38	99	JJ Yeley	Chevrolet	21	21	0	0	107	0	0	0	0	Running
17	33	26	Santino Ferrucci	Toyota	20	20	0	0	107	0	0	0	0	Running
18	18	44	Tommy Joe Martins	Chevrolet	19	19	0	0	107	0	0	0	0	Running
19	35	17	Garrett Smithley	Chevrolet	18	18	0	0	107	0	0	0	0	Running
20	25	47	Kyle Weatherman	Chevrolet	17	17	0	0	107	0	0	0	0	Running
21	32	36	Alex Labbe	Chevrolet	16	16	0	0	107	1	1	0	0	Running
22	11	54	John Hunter Nemechek	Toyota	0	0	0	0	107	8	2	1	3	Running
23	30	5	Matt Mills	Chevrolet	14	14	0	0	106	0	0	0	0	Running
24	15	51	Jeremy Clements	Chevrolet	13	13	0	0	104	0	0	0	0	Running
25	9	20	Harrison Burton	Toyota	22	12	10	0	101	2	1	5	7	Accident
26	16	2	Brett Moffitt	Chevrolet	20	11	9	0	101	3	2	0	2	Accident
27	13	98	Riley Herbst	Ford	25	10	15	0	101	26	4	3	4	Accident
28	34	66	Jason A White	Toyota	9	9	0	0	101	0	0	0	0	Accident
29	31	0	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Chevrolet	8	8	0	0	93	0	0	0	0	Accident
30	4	9	Noah Gragson	Chevrolet	8	7	1	0	88	8	1	0	10	Accident
31	10	2	Myatt Snider	Chevrolet	11	6	5	0	88	0	0	6	0	Accident
32	37	90	Caesar Bacarella	Chevrolet	5	5	0	0	88	0	0	0	0	Accident
33	22	6	Ryan Vargas	Chevrolet	4	4	0	0	88	0	0	0	0	Accident
34	36	74	CJ McLaughlin	Chevrolet	3	3	0	0	88	0	0	0	0	Accident
35	27	78	Mason Massey	Toyota	2	2	0	0	88	4	1	0	0	Accident
36	20	15	Bayley Currey	Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	73	2	2	0	0	Driveshaft
37	21	4	Landon Cassill	Chevrolet	1	1	0	0	50	0	0	0	0	Engine
38	12	8	Sam Mayer	Chevrolet	1	1	0	0	24	0	0	0	0	Accident
39	5	16	AJ Allmendinger	Chevrolet	1	1	0	0	24	3	1	0	0	Accident
40	28	61	David Starr	Toyota	1	1	0	0	20	0	0	0	0	Engine

Race Infractions

Sparks 300 at Talladega Superspeedway

Driver	Infraction	Penalty	Lap	Lap Assessed	Flag
Justin Haley	Pre-Race to the Rear Inspection violation	Tail End	0	0	White
Justin Haley	Unspecified Inspection violation	Pass Thru	0	1	Green
David Starr	Pitting before pit road is open Garage	Tail End	24	0	Green
Brandon Jones	Running over/under equipment	Tail End	51	54	Yellow
Joey Gase	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	89	93	Yellow
Santino Ferrucci	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	89	93	Yellow
Santino Ferrucci	Driving through more than 3 pit boxes	Tail End	89	93	Yellow
Myatt Snider	Tire violation	Tail End	91	93	Yellow
Jeffrey Earnhardt	Commitment Line Violation Garage	Pass Thru	94	0	Green
Jason A White	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	102	0	Yellow
John Hunter Nemechek	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	102	0	Yellow
Alex Labbe	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	102	0	Yellow

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Race Fast Facts

Talladega Superspeedway
2nd Annual Sparks 300 at Talladega
Race Winner: Brandon Brown
Age: 28
Team : No. 68 - Original Larry's Hard Lemonade Chevrolet
Owner: Jerry Brown
Crew Chief: Doug Randolph
Brandon Brown won the 2nd Annual Sparks 300 at Talladega, his first victory in 115 Xfinity Series races.
This is his first victory and ninth top-10 finish in 2021.
This is his first victory and third top-10 finish in six races at Talladega Superspeedway.
Brandon Jones (second) posted his third top-10 finish in nine races at Talladega Superspeedway. It is his 15th top-10 finish in 2021.
Justin Allgaier (third) posted his seventh top-10 finish in 14 races at Talladega Superspeedway.
Josh Berry (ninth) was the highest finishing rookie.
Austin Cindric leads the point standings by 22 points over Justin Allgaier.

Race Recap

As darkness falls on Talladega, Brandon Brown gets breakthrough NASCAR Xfinity win

October 2nd, 2021

By Reid Spencer - NASCAR Wire Service

As he crossed the finish line under caution on a dark race track, Brandon Brown surrendered to the emotion of his first victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. "Thank God," Brown exulted. "We did it. We did it. We won!"

On a day of unexpected victories at Talladega Superspeedway—a track where the unexpected sometimes seems commonplace—Brown had a narrow lead three-wide with Justin Allgaier and Brandon Jones at the previous scoring loop when NASCAR called the fifth caution of the race on Lap 102 for a multicar wreck in Turn 4.

With darkness preventing the resumption of the race, NASCAR showed the checkered flag to Brown under yellow on Lap 107 of a scheduled 113, with Jones credited with second and Allgaier third.

Brown's excitement hadn't abated one iota by the time he got to Victory Lane.

"You can ask my neighbors at Coastal Carolina, I did plenty of burnouts to practice for this moment," said Brown, who drives for his family-owned team, Brandonbilt Motorsports. "Oh, my god. It's a dream come true. A Talladega winner. Oh my god, Dad, we did it!

"This is everything we hoped and dreamed for. Everything I've ever wanted to do is take the trophy home to Mom and Dad. Oh, my god. Thank you so much Larry's Lemonaid…all of our partners. It's unbelievable."

Brown was a keen student of the action during the first two stages of the race, won by John Hunter Nemechek and Blaine Perkins. He noticed major changes in momentum between the top and bottom lanes at the 2.66-mile track.

"Everything shifted top to bottom so much, it was like, 'OK, let's just stay patient where we're at and hope for the best'," Brown said. "We saw our moment and we seized it. God, I'm just so proud of Brandonbilt Motorsports and so proud of our team, here and at home and everyone that worked on our team since the beginning.

"We did it. We did it. We did it."

Brown, Jones and Allgaier were trading the lead three-wide when the No. 20 Toyota of Harrison Burton broke loose in Turn 4 and ignited an eight-car crash that slowed the race for the final time.

Daniel Hemric finished fourth, followed by Jordan Anderson, Justin Haley, Jeb Burton and defending series champion Austin Cindric, who clinched a spot in the Round of 8 in the Xfinity Playoff with an insurmountable points edge over ninth-place Jeb Burton.

On the final lap of the first stage, the cars of Sam Mayer and regular-season champion AJ Allmendinger collided in Turn 3, demolishing both vehicles. The No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet of Mayer slammed the outside wall so heavily that NASCAR had to red-flag the race for repairs to the SAFER barrier.

Allmendinger took a heavy hit in the points, but he's still 33 above the cut line heading to next Saturday's Round of 12 elimination race at the Charlotte Roval, a track where he is expected to excel.v"That's why you work so hard during the regular season to build up bonus points," Allmendinger said after a trip to the infield care center. "We'll see where it puts us going into the Roval. It's a minor setback in a great year."

If Allmendinger's setback was minor, the hit Noah Gragson suffered in a Lap 88 wreck was a major one. Gragson was running at the front of the field in the inside lane when slight contact from Jeb Burton's Chevrolet to the left rear of Brett Moffitt's Camaro—after Moffitt's car had gotten loose—triggered the first major wreck of the event.

Moffitt's Chevy slid down the track into Gragson's No. 9 Camaro, which rocketed nose-first into the outside wall. As Gragson slipped back down the track, Myatt Snider—with nowhere to go—plowed into the rear of Gragson's car.

Like Allmendinger, Gragson suffered a significant blow in the standings but remained 18 points above the current cut line for the Round of 8.

"The 02 (Moffitt) just got turned by the 10 (Burton), and I got it head-on and got cleaned out by the 2 (Snider)," Gragson said. "So, just a bummer. We had a fast car."

Brown's victory was the nightcap—literally—of a Playoff doubleheader with the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Earlier on Saturday, Tate Fogleman secured his first Truck Series win in the Chevrolet Silverado 250.