The official 2021 Sparks 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series entry list features top NASCAR drivers set to compete at Talladega Superspeedway, highlighting the full lineup of race participants and teams.
Saturday, October 2nd, 2021
Talladega Superspeedway, Lincoln, AL
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.
ENTRY | # | DRIVER | HOMETOWN | DOB | AGE | MAKE | SPONSOR | TEAM | CREW CHIEF |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger | Los Gatos, CA | Dec 16, 1981 | 39 | Chevrolet | Gold Fish Casino Slots | Kaulig Racing | Jason Trinchere |
2 | 199 | JJ Yeley | Phoenix, AZ | Oct 5, 1976 | 44 | Chevrolet | Figgers Wireless | BJ McLeod Motorsports | Keith Wolfe |
3 | 104 | Landon Cassill | Cedar Rapids, IA | Jul 7, 1989 | 32 | Chevrolet | Voyager | JD Motorsports | Tommy Machek |
4 | 61 | David Starr | Houston, TX | Nov 11, 1967 | 53 | Toyota | Whataburger | Hattori Racing Enterprises | Johnny Roten |
5 | 66 | Jason A White | Richmond, VA | Jun 5, 1979 | 42 | Toyota | A Game Energy Drink | Motorsports Business Management | Michael Contarino |
6 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | Riverton, IL | Jun 6, 1986 | 35 | Chevrolet | Brandt | JR Motorsports | Jason Burdett |
7 | 02 | Brett Moffitt | Grimes, IA | Aug 7, 1992 | 29 | Chevrolet | Fr8Auction | Our Motorsports | Pat Tryson |
8 | 52 | Joey Gase | Cedar Rapids, IA | Feb 8, 1993 | 28 | Toyota | Sparks Energy / Cross Eyed Owl | Means Motorsports | Tim Brown |
9 | 10 | Jeb Burton | Halifax, VA | Aug 6, 1992 | 29 | Chevrolet | Nutrien Ag Solutions | Kaulig Racing | Bruce Schlicker |
10 | 0 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | Mooresville, NC | Jun 22, 1989 | 32 | Chevrolet | Absaroka | JD Motorsports | Paul Clapprood |
11 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | Tucker, GA | Jun 20, 1987 | 34 | Ford | CMR Construction and Roofing / A-Game | RSS Racing | Kevin Starland |
12 | 47 | Kyle Weatherman | Wentzville, MO | Aug 28, 1997 | 24 | Chevrolet | BowhuntersUnited.com | Mike Harmon Racing | Mike Tyska |
13 | 18 | Daniel Hemric | Kannapolis, NC | Jan 27, 1991 | 30 | Toyota | Poppy Bank | Joe Gibbs Racing | Dave Rogers |
14 | 17 | Garrett Smithley | Ligonier, PA | Apr 27, 1992 | 29 | Chevrolet | Black Draft Farm | SS Green Light Racing | Jason Miller |
15 | 15 | Bayley Currey | Driftwood, TX | Oct 29, 1996 | 24 | Chevrolet | TeamJDMotorsports.com | JD Motorsports | Wayne Carroll Jr |
16 | 11 | Justin Haley | Winamac, IN | Apr 28, 1999 | 22 | Chevrolet | LeafFilter Gutter Protection | Kaulig Racing | Alex Yontz |
17 | 54 | John Hunter Nemechek | Mooresville, NC | Jun 11, 1997 | 24 | Toyota | Sport Clips Haircuts | Joe Gibbs Racing | Chris Gayle |
18 | 36 | Alex Labbe | Saint-Albert, Canada | Apr 29, 1993 | 28 | Chevrolet | Can-Am | DGM Racing | Mario Gosselin |
19 | 22 | Austin Cindric | Columbus, OH | Sep 2, 1998 | 23 | Ford | Carquest Auto Parts | Team Penske | Brian Wilson |
20 | 68 | Brandon Brown | Woodbridge, VA | Sep 14, 1993 | 28 | Chevrolet | The Original Larry's Hard Lemonade | Brandonbilt Motorsports | Doug Randolph |
21 | 19 | Brandon Jones | Atlanta, GA | Feb 18, 1997 | 24 | Toyota | Menards / Little Hugs | Joe Gibbs Racing | Jeff Meendering |
22 | 90 | Caesar Bacarella | Parkland, FL | Dec 18, 1975 | 45 | Chevrolet | AP Regimen / AP PrimeBites | DGM Racing | Ryan London |
23 | 74 | CJ McLaughlin | Framingham, MA | Jul 1, 1992 | 29 | Chevrolet | Integrated Recycling Tech | Mike Harmon Racing | Ryan Bell |
24 | 20 | Harrison Burton | Huntersville, NC | Oct 9, 2000 | 20 | Toyota | DEX Imaging | Joe Gibbs Racing | Jason Ratcliff |
25 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Spartanburg, SC | Jan 16, 1985 | 36 | Chevrolet | All South Electric | Jeremy Clements Racing | Mark Setzer |
26 | 07 | Joe Graf Jr | Mahwah, NJ | Jul 12, 1998 | 23 | Chevrolet | Bucked Up Energy | SS Green Light Racing | Joe Williams |
27 | 92 | Josh Williams | Port Charlotte, FL | Aug 3, 1993 | 28 | Chevrolet | Star Brite / Star Tron | DGM Racing | Nathan Kennedy |
28 | 105 | Matt Mills | Lynchburg, VA | Nov 14, 1996 | 24 | Chevrolet | JF Electric | BJ McLeod Motorsports | David Ingram |
29 | 2 | Myatt Snider | Charlotte, NC | Dec 30, 1994 | 26 | Chevrolet | TaxSlayer | Richard Childress Racing | Andy Street |
30 | 9 | Noah Gragson | Las Vegas, NV | Jul 15, 1998 | 23 | Chevrolet | Bass Pro Shops / TrueTimber / BRCC | JR Motorsports | Dave Elenz |
31 | 98 | Riley Herbst | Las Vegas, NV | Feb 24, 1999 | 22 | Ford | Monster Energy | Stewart-Haas Racing | Richard Boswell |
32 | 44 | Tommy Joe Martins | Como, MS | Dec 7, 1986 | 34 | Chevrolet | AAN Adjusters | Martins Motorsports | Dan Stillman |
33 | 178 | Mason Massey | Douglasville, GA | Jan 24, 1997 | 24 | Toyota | Gerber Collision & Glass | BJ McLeod Motorsports | Adam Brooks |
34 | 48 | Jade Buford | Brentwood, TN | Feb 15, 1988 | 33 | Chevrolet | Big Machine Spiked Coolers | Big Machine Racing | Patrick Donahue |
35 | 106 | Ryan Vargas | La Miranda, CA | Sep 23, 2000 | 21 | Chevrolet | TeamJDMotorsports.com | JD Motorsports | Kase Kallenbach |
36 | 31 | Jordan Anderson | Forest Acres, SC | Apr 15, 1991 | 30 | Chevrolet | Bommarito Automotive Group | Jordan Anderson Racing | Arthur Haire |
37 | 1 | Josh Berry | Hendersonville, TN | Oct 22, 1990 | 30 | Chevrolet | TMC Transportation | JR Motorsports | Mike Bumgarner |
38 | 26 | Santino Ferrucci | Woodbury, CT | May 31, 1998 | 23 | Toyota | HyVee | Sam Hunt Racing | Andrew Abbott |
39 | 23 | Blaine Perkins | Bakersfield, CA | Feb 28, 2000 | 21 | Chevrolet | Circle B Diecast | Our Motorsports | Kenneth Roettger |
40 | 8 | Sam Mayer | Franklin, WI | Jun 26, 2003 | 18 | Chevrolet | QPS Employment Group | JR Motorsports | Taylor Moyer |