XFINITY Series Daytona International Speedway

NASCAR XFINITY Series

Entry List

Beef. It's What's For Dinner. 300

Saturday, February 13th, 2021

Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, FL

  • 34 Chevrolet
  • 5 Ford
  • 6 Toyota

  • Sunday, February 14th, 2021
  • NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer
Austin Cindric pulls off overtime Xfinity victory at Daytona

Austin Cindric took up where he left off in 2020.

The reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion held off Brett Moffitt and Harrison Burton in a two-lap NASCAR Overtime dash to win Saturday's action-filled Beef. It's What's For Dinner. 300 at Daytona International Speedway, the season-opener.

Cindric, who locked up the Xfinity title by winning in his last outing at Phoenix Raceway in November, picked up his first victory on the 2.5-mile Daytona oval and the ninth of his career in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

"What an awesome race," said Cindric, who will make his NASCAR Cup Series debut in Sunday's Daytona 500. "What a really fast Verizon 5G Ford Mustang. Unbelievable effort by everyone at Team Penske.

"Obviously, coming off a lot of momentum winning that championship last year, but nothing is guaranteed and keep working hard. Congrats to my man, (spotter) Coleman (Pressley) up on the roof. He puts in just as much effort or more as I do. I'm proud of him, and we'll try to go do it again tomorrow, I guess."

The runner-up result was a career-best for Moffitt, who previously had one top five in the series, a fifth at Talladega.

"Once the 22 (Cindric) got up front, every time I got within a car length, I'd just push him farther forward," said Moffitt, who chased Cindric in overtime time after taking over second place from Burton, the third-place finisher.

Jeb Burton, Harrison's cousin, ran fourth, despite sustaining minor damage to the nose of his No. 10 Chevrolet in a three-car incident that caused the ninth caution on Lap 114 of a scheduled 120 and set up the overtime.

AJ Allmendinger was fifth, followed by Brandon Brown, Myatt Snider, Brandon Gdovic (first career top 10), Daniel Hemric and Jason White.

With 15 laps left, contact between the Joe Gibbs Racing cars of Ty Dillon and Daniel Hemric rewrote the story of the race. Dillon moved up the track between cars running in the inside and outside lanes, but when he tried to complete a pass of Hemric, he turned across the nose of Hemric's No. 18 Toyota and spun, igniting a chain-reaction wreck that eliminated a handful of potential race winners and probable championship contenders.

Destroyed were the JR Motorsports cars of Justin Allgaier and Josh Berry and the No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet of Justin Haley, who was trying to win his fourth straight Xfinity Series superspeedway race—an achievement only Dale Earnhardt Jr. had accomplished previously.

"The 18 (Hemric) hit me so hard in the left rear, it drove me up the track," said Dillon, who is racing in the Xfinity Series after four full seasons at the NASCAR Cup level.

Allgaier saw it differently. "He wrecked the whole field," Allgaier said. "He had to make a statement...Unfortunately, guys were trying to make moves—veterans who should know better—and making bad decisions."

On Lap 75, nine circuits after a restart to begin the final stage, the pit window opened, and all hell broke loose off Turn 4 as Cindric slowed at the front of a group of cars headed for pit road. Michael Annett was turned sideways across traffic in a nine-car wreck that wiped out Annett's No. 1 Chevrolet and the No. 9 of JR Motorsports teammate Noah Gragson, the defending race winner.

The cars of Bayley Currey, Gray Gaulding and Colby Howard also suffered race-ending damage.

"I got wrecked coming to pit road," Annett said. "I waved them off 10 friggin' times."

Stage 1 winner Brandon Jones saw his fortunes change dramatically coming to the checkered flag to end Stage 2. Jones steered his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota up the track to side draft the outside lane, but when he returned to the bottom lane, his attempted block on Myatt Snider's Chevrolet came too late, and Jones spun across the nose of Snider's car.

After a wild slide through infield grass soaked by rain earlier in the day, Jones rocketed back onto the track and slammed nose-first into the outside wall. Cody Roper's Camaro smashed into Jones' car at high speed, and the spinning Toyota clipped the Chevrolet of Alex Labbe. All three cars were destroyed, and NASCAR red-flagged the race to clear the debris from the track.

Moffitt won the second stage, with Dillon and Cindric second and third behind him.

Only 22 of the 40 cars that started the race were running at the finish of a race that featured nine cautions for a total of 43 laps.

  • Drivers Entered: 45 (7 drivers will not make the race)
  • Laps Scheduled: 120
  • Laps Actual: 122 - NASCAR OVERTIME!
  • Margin of Victory: 0.104 Seconds
  • Time of Race: 2 Hours 34 Minutes 12 Seconds
  • Average Speed: 118.677
  • Cautions: 9 for 42 laps
  • Lead Changes: 16
  • Green Flag Passes: 3,433 (42.9 passes per green flag lap)

  • Daytona International Speedway
  • 40th Annual Beef. It's What's for Dinner. 300
  • Race Winner: Austin Cindric
  • Age: 22
  • Team : No. 22 - Verizon 5G Ford
  • Owner: Team Penske
  • Crew Chief: Brian Wilson
  • Austin Cindric won the 40th Annual Beef. It's What's for Dinner. 300, his ninth victory in 101 Xfinity Series races.
  • This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in 2021.
  • This is his first victory and fourth top-10 finish in seven races at Daytona International Speedway.
  • Brett Moffitt (second) posted his first top-10 finish in three races at Daytona International Speedway.
  • Harrison Burton (third) posted his third top-10 finish in three races at Daytona International Speedway.
  • Ryan Vargas (18th) was the highest finishing rookie.
  • Austin Cindric becomes the second Xfinity champion from the previous season (2020) to win the season-opener at Daytona the following year (2021); joining 1996 champion Randy LaJoie. Lajoie would go on to win the 1997 title as well.
  • Thie Team Penske's first win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Daytona International Speedway.
  • This is Ford's sixth victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Daytona.
Justin Allgaier sits in his car
Daytona Beach, Florida - February 12, 2021 : Justin Allgaier, driver of the #7 Brandt Chevrolet, sits in his car in the garage area during practice for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Beef. It's What's For Dinner. 300 at Daytona International Speedway on February 12, 2021 in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Chris GraythenGetty Images
Beef. It's What's For Dinner. 300 at Daytona International Speedway Entry List
ENTRY # DRIVER HOMETOWN DOB AGE MAKE SPONSOR TEAM CREW CHIEF
1 16 AJ Allmendinger Los Gatos, CA Dec 16, 1981 42 Chevrolet Ellsworth Advisors Kaulig Racing
2 4 Landon Cassill Cedar Rapids, IA Jul 7, 1989 35 Chevrolet Blue Emu JD Motorsports Tommy Machek
3 91 Mario Gosselin St. Marie, Quebec, Canada Oct 20, 1971 52 Chevrolet AP Sport Regimen / Sleep Well DGM Racing Dexter Bean
4 23 Jason A White Richmond, VA Jun 5, 1979 45 Chevrolet A-Game Energy RSS Racing Paul Clapprood
5 66 Timmy Hill Port Tobacco, MD Feb 25, 1993 31 Ford VSI Racing / Ripper Magoos / Draft Kings Motorsports Business Management Timothy Goulet
6 7 Justin Allgaier Riverton, IL Jun 6, 1986 38 Chevrolet BRANDT JR Motorsports Jason Burdett
7 1 Michael Annett Des Moines, IA Jun 23, 1986 38 Chevrolet PFJ American Heart Association JR Motorsports Travis Mack
8 02 Brett Moffitt Grimes, IA Aug 7, 1992 32 Chevrolet Fr8Auctions Our Motorsports Joe Williams
9 54 Ty Dillon Lewisville, NC Feb 27, 1992 32 Toyota Bass Pro Shops Joe Gibbs Racing Chris Gayle
10 10 Jeb Burton Halifax, VA Aug 6, 1992 32 Chevrolet Nutrien Ag Solutions Kaulig Racing Bruce Schlicker
11 0 Jeffrey Earnhardt Mooresville, NC Jun 22, 1989 35 Chevrolet ForeverLawn JD Motorsports Kase Kallenbach
12 52 Gray Gaulding Colonial Heights, VA Feb 10, 1998 26 Chevrolet Panini America Means Motorsports Tim Brown
13 17 Cody Ware Greensboro, NC Nov 7, 1995 28 Chevrolet Jacob Companies Rick Ware Racing Jason Miller
14 39 Ryan Sieg Tucker, GA Jun 20, 1987 37 Ford CMR Construction & Roofing RSS Racing Kevin Starland
15 47 Kyle Weatherman Wentzville, MO Aug 28, 1997 27 Chevrolet Axe Crossbows Mike Harmon Racing Ed Jewett
16 18 Daniel Hemric Kannapolis, NC Jan 27, 1991 33 Toyota Poppy Bank Joe Gibbs Racing Dave Rogers
17 13 Chad Finchum Knoxville, TN Sep 22, 1994 30 Ford Ted Russell Ford Lincoln Motorsports Business Management Mike Hillman Sr
18 78 Jesse Little Sherrills Ford, NC Apr 15, 1997 27 Chevrolet Shriners Hospitals 4 Children BJ McLeod Motorsports Adam Brooks
19 03 Tyler Reddick Corning, CA Jan 11, 1996 28 Chevrolet Quartz Hill Records Our Motorsports Daniel Johnson
20 74 Bayley Currey Driftwood, TX Oct 29, 1996 27 Chevrolet Running 4 Heroes Mike Harmon Racing Patrick Drake
21 11 Justin Haley Winamac, IN Apr 28, 1999 25 Chevrolet LeafFilter Gutter Protection Kaulig Racing Alex Yontz
22 36 Alex Labbe Saint-Albert, Canada Apr 29, 1993 31 Chevrolet Larue Snow Blowers / Prolon Controls DGM Racing BJ Tucker
23 22 Austin Cindric Columbus, OH Sep 2, 1998 26 Ford Verizon 5G Team Penske Brian Wilson
24 68 Brandon Brown Woodbridge, VA Sep 14, 1993 31 Chevrolet Larry's Hard Pink Lemonade Brandonbilt Motorsports Doug Randolph
25 19 Brandon Jones Atlanta, GA Feb 18, 1997 27 Toyota Menards / Jeld-Wen Joe Gibbs Racing Jeff Meendering
26 90 Caesar Bacarella Parkland, FL Dec 18, 1975 48 Chevrolet TVA DGM Racing Eddie Troconis
27 25 Chris Cockrum Conyers, GA Dec 24, 1986 37 Chevrolet Advanced Communications Group ACG Motorsports Jeff Spraker
28 20 Harrison Burton Huntersville, NC Oct 9, 2000 24 Toyota DEX Imaging Joe Gibbs Racing Jason Ratcliff
29 51 Jeremy Clements Spartanburg, SC Jan 16, 1985 39 Chevrolet All South Electric Jeremy Clements Racing Mark Setzer
30 07 Joe Graf Jr Mahwah, NJ Jul 12, 1998 26 Chevrolet Bucked Up Energy SS Green Light Racing Jason Miller
31 92 Josh Williams Port Charlotte, FL Aug 3, 1993 31 Chevrolet Alloy Employer / Sleep Well DGM Racing Ryan London
32 5 Matt Mills Lynchburg, VA Nov 14, 1996 27 Chevrolet J.F. Electric BJ McLeod Motorsports David Ingram
33 2 Myatt Snider Charlotte, NC Dec 30, 1994 29 Chevrolet TaxSlayer Richard Childress Racing Andy Street
34 9 Noah Gragson Las Vegas, NV Jul 15, 1998 26 Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / TrueTimber Camo BRCC JR Motorsports Dave Elenz
35 98 Riley Herbst Las Vegas, NV Feb 24, 1999 25 Ford Monster Energy Stewart-Haas Racing Richard Boswell
36 61 Robby Lyons II Clearwater, FL Jan 22, 1989 35 Toyota CSM Masonry Hattori Racing Enterprises Patrick Magee
37 44 Tommy Joe Martins Como, MS Dec 7, 1986 37 Chevrolet AAN Adjusters Martins Motorsports Buddy Sisco
38 15 Colby Howard Simpsonville, SC Oct 28, 2001 22 Chevrolet Linder / Project Hope Foundation JD Motorsports Wayne Carroll Jr
39 126 Brandon Gdovic Pittsburgh, PA Feb 28, 1992 32 Toyota Toyota Racing Sam Hunt Racing Eddie Troconis
40 77 Ronnie Bassett Jr Winston-Salem, NC Dec 21, 1995 28 Chevrolet Jerry Hunt / East Coast Wings Bassett Racing Nathan Kennedy
41 6 Ryan Vargas La Miranda, CA Sep 23, 2000 24 Chevrolet Swann Communications JD Motorsports Ricky Viers
42 99 Stefan Parsons Cornelius, NC Jun 15, 1998 26 Chevrolet Sokal Digital BJ McLeod Motorsports Keith Wolfe
43 31 Will Rodgers Maui, HI Oct 8, 1994 30 Chevrolet Bommarito Automotive Group Jordan Anderson Racing Tyler Young
44 48 Danny Bohn Freehold Township, NJ Jun 29, 1988 36 Chevrolet North American Motor Car Big Machine Racing Patrick Donahue
45 8 Josh Berry Hendersonville, TN Oct 22, 1990 33 Chevrolet Filter Time JR Motorsports Taylor Moyer