Entry List

The official 2022 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.

Sparks 300

Saturday, October 1st, 2022

Talladega Superspeedway, Lincoln, AL

  • 25 Chevrolet
  • 6 Ford
  • 6 Toyota

  • Talladega Superspeedway
  • 3rd Annual Sparks 300
  • Pole Winner: Austin Hill
  • Age: 28
  • Team : No. 21 - Bennett Transportation Chevrolet
  • Owner: Richard Childress
  • Crew Chief: Andy Street
  • Austin Hill won the Pole Award for the 3rd Annual Sparks 300 with a lap of 52.605 seconds, 182.036 mph.
  • This is his first pole in 43 NASCAR Xfinity Series races.
  • This is his first pole and 17th top-10 start in 2022.
  • This is his first pole in three races at Talladega Superspeedway.
  • Ty Gibbs (second) posted his 23rd top-10 start of 2022 and his second in two races at Talladega Superspeedway.
  • Sheldon Creed (third) posted his second top-10 start at Talladega Superspeedway. It is his 15th in 28 races this season.
  • Austin Hill (first) was the fastest qualifying rookie.

  • Saturday, October 1st, 2022
  • NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain
AJ Allmendinger Makes Last Lap Pass to Win Xfinity Race at Talladega

Three times A.J. Allmendinger has led the white flag lap on a superspeedway track and not been able to lead that next lap to earn the big trophy.

On Saturday, the veteran waited and pulled ahead of the field in the final feet coming to the Sparks 300 checkered flag at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway and edged 19-year old Sam Mayer by .015-second - about three feet - in a photo finish to earn his first NASCAR Xfinity Series win at NASCAR's biggest track.

It marked the regular season champ Allmendinger's fourth victory in the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet this season and first ever at a superspeedway venue. Most importantly, the win - coming in the second race of the opening round of the Playoffs - is an automatic ticket through to the next round of Xfinity Series Playoff competition.

"Let's gooooooo," an absolutely elated Allmendinger screamed into the grandstands after climbing out of his car and accepting the checkered flag at the iconic track.

"Gosh, we've been so close to winning one (superspeedway race) and I feel like I keep giving them away. Thought I might have given it away. I'm still learning, trying to know what too big of a lead is. But honestly, all credit to (Kaulig teammate) Landon Cassill.

"He kept shoving me. He stuck with me. That's what is great about Kaulig Racing, when you have teammates like Landon and Daniel (Hemric) that you know wherever you go, they'll go with you. So thank you Landon.

"Man, I just wanted to win a superspeedway and finally got it," added a grinning Allmendinger, who now claims 14 career Xfinity Series victories.

Cassill finished third, followed by Ryan Sieg and JR Motorsports driver Josh Berry - all Playoff contenders. Parker Kligerman was sixth, followed by Playoff drivers Ty Gibbs, Daniel Hemric, Brandon Jones and Noah Gragson.

It marked quite the comeback for Gibbs, who qualified on the front row, but was involved in the only on-track yellow flag for an incident on the afternoon. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver's No. 54 Toyota was tagged from behind by Justin Allgaier while racing in a tight pack up front only three laps into the 113-lap race. Gibbs spun out but was remarkably untouched by any other car.

A quick pit stop and impressive pit strategy later, Gibbs was running around the Top-10 in the closing laps of the race and managed to recover to that seventh place final effort.

Gragson, driver of the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, was looking to become the first driver in NASCAR Xfinity Series history to win five consecutive races and was running among the Top-3 with 10 laps to go.

His ultimate move forward for the win in the closing laps was blocked and he instead finished 10th. Although just short of that historic victory nod, he had already earned his automatic ticket to the Playoffs second round by virtue of his victory last week at Texas (his seventh on the season and fourth in a row).

"We're going to keep it going," Gragson said after the race. "I have a super motivated team… you want to win them all, but you can't do that sometimes."

Polesitter and series rookie Austin Hill, who swept the two stage wins and for the second straight race led the most laps - 60 on Saturday - also dropped out of the lead group in the waning laps to the checkered flag. He finished 14th.

With Allmendinger and Gragson having earned automatic bids in ton the next round of the Playoffs, Gibbs (-21) and Hill (-27) are ranked third and fourth in the standings, followed by Berry, Allgaier - who finished 15th Saturday - Mayer and Sieg in that eighth and final transfer position.

Defending series champion Hemric (-6), Brandon Jones (-10), Riley Herbst (-10) and Jeremy Clements (-47) are ranked ninth through 12th heading into the final race of this Playoff round.

Up next is the Drive for the Cure 250 presented by BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina on Saturday (3 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). A.J. Allmendinger has won the last three races.

  • Drivers Entered: 38
  • Laps Scheduled: 113
  • Margin of Victory: 0.015 Seconds
  • Time of Race: 1 Hours 53 Minutes 33 Seconds
  • Average Speed: 158.827
  • Cautions: 3 for 11 laps
  • Lead Changes: 20
  • Green Flag Passes: 5,392 (52.9 passes per green flag lap)

  • Talladega Superspeedway
  • 3rd Annual Sparks 300
  • Race Winner: AJ Allmendinger
  • Age: 40
  • Team : No. 16 - Action Industries Chevrolet
  • Owner: Matthew Kaulig
  • Crew Chief: Bruce Schlicker
  • AJ Allmendinger won the 3rd Annual Sparks 300, his 14th victory in 88 Xfinity Series races.
  • This is his fourth victory and 25th top-10 finish in 2022.
  • This is his first victory and fourth top-10 finish in six races at Talladega Superspeedway.
  • Sam Mayer (second) posted his first top-10 finish in three races at Talladega Superspeedway. It is his 16th top-10 finish in 2022.
  • Landon Cassill (third) posted his fourth top-10 finish in eight races at Talladega Superspeedway.
  • Sheldon Creed (12th) was the highest finishing rookie.
  • Noah Gragson leads the point standings by 0 points over AJ Allmendinger.
Brandon Brown walks with the checkered flag
Talladega, Alabama - October 2, 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.
Sean GardnerGetty Images
Sparks 300 at Talladega Superspeedway Entry List
ENTRY # DRIVER HOMETOWN DOB AGE MAKE SPONSOR TEAM CREW CHIEF
1 16 AJ Allmendinger Los Gatos, CA Dec 16, 1981 40 Chevrolet Action Industries Kaulig Racing Bruce Schlicker
2 66 JJ Yeley Phoenix, AZ Oct 5, 1976 45 Ford AMG Sport Motorsports Business Management George Church
3 10 Landon Cassill Cedar Rapids, IA Jul 7, 1989 33 Chevrolet Voyager: Crypto for All Kaulig Racing Alex Yontz
4 18 Trevor Bayne Knoxville, TN Feb 19, 1991 31 Toyota Dollar Concrete Joe Gibbs Racing Jason Ratcliff
5 08 David Starr Houston, TX Nov 11, 1967 54 Ford Five Network SS-GLR w/Jeff Lefcourt Jason Miller
6 13 Timmy Hill Port Tobacco, MD Feb 25, 1993 29 Toyota Buffalo Wild Wings / Coble Motorsports Business Management Jason Houghtaling
7 7 Justin Allgaier Riverton, IL Jun 6, 1986 36 Chevrolet BRANDT JR Motorsports Jason Burdett
8 48 Parker Kligerman Westport, CT Aug 8, 1990 32 Chevrolet Big Machine Racing Spiked Big Machine Racing Patrick Donahue
9 5 Joey Gase Cedar Rapids, IA Feb 8, 1993 29 Chevrolet J.F. Electric BJ McLeod Motorsports Mike Tyska
10 27 Jeb Burton Halifax, VA Aug 6, 1992 30 Chevrolet Solid Rock Carriers Our Motorsports Chad Walter
11 78 BJ McLeod Wauchula, FL Nov 17, 1983 38 Chevrolet B.J. McLeod Motorsports BJ McLeod Motorsports David Ingram
12 35 Jeffrey Earnhardt Mooresville, NC Jun 22, 1989 33 Toyota Absaroka Emerling Gase Motorsports Jim Gase
13 39 Ryan Sieg Tucker, GA Jun 20, 1987 35 Ford A-GAME RSS Racing Kevin Starland
14 11 Daniel Hemric Kannapolis, NC Jan 27, 1991 31 Chevrolet First Bank of Alabama Kaulig Racing Jason Trinchere
15 4 Bayley Currey Driftwood, TX Oct 29, 1996 25 Chevrolet Alka-Seltzer JD Motorsports Wayne Carroll Jr
16 21 Austin Hill Winston, GA Apr 21, 1994 28 Chevrolet Bennett Transportation Richard Childress Racing Andy Street
17 68 Brandon Brown Woodbridge, VA Sep 14, 1993 29 Chevrolet Zero FG Energy Brandonbilt Motorsports Doug Randolph
18 19 Brandon Jones Atlanta, GA Feb 18, 1997 25 Toyota Menards/Little Hugs Joe Gibbs Racing Jeff Meendering
19 45 Caesar Bacarella Parkland, FL Dec 18, 1975 46 Chevrolet Clear Cryptos Alpha Prime Racing Frank Kerr
20 38 CJ McLaughlin Framingham, MA Jul 1, 1992 30 Ford SciAps RSS Racing Steve Addington
21 51 Jeremy Clements Spartanburg, SC Jan 16, 1985 37 Chevrolet One Stop / ASE Jeremy Clements Racing Mark Setzer
22 07 Joe Graf Jr Mahwah, NJ Jul 12, 1998 24 Ford G Coin SS-GLR w/Jeff Lefcourt Joe Williams
23 36 Josh Williams Port Charlotte, FL Aug 3, 1993 29 Chevrolet Star Tron / Alloy DGM Racing Nathan Kennedy
24 31 Myatt Snider Charlotte, NC Dec 30, 1994 27 Chevrolet TaxSlayer Jordan Anderson Racing Shane Whitbeck
25 9 Noah Gragson Las Vegas, NV Jul 15, 1998 24 Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops TrueTimber BRCC JR Motorsports Luke Lambert
26 98 Riley Herbst Las Vegas, NV Feb 24, 1999 23 Ford Monster Energy Stewart-Haas Racing Richard Boswell
27 91 Mason Massey Douglasville, GA Jan 24, 1997 25 Chevrolet Anderson Power Services DGM Racing Mario Gosselin
28 23 Anthony Alfredo Ridgefield, CT Mar 1, 1999 23 Chevrolet Dude Wipes Our Motorsports Pat Tryson
29 34 Jesse Iwuji Carrollton, TX Aug 12, 1987 35 Chevrolet Equity Prime Mortgage Jesse Iwuji Motorsports Dan Stillman
30 6 Ryan Vargas La Miranda, CA Sep 23, 2000 22 Chevrolet Reddit NASCAR JD Motorsports Kase Kallenbach
31 2 Sheldon Creed Alpine, CA Sep 30, 1997 25 Chevrolet Whelen Richard Childress Racing Jeff Stankiewicz
32 8 Josh Berry Hendersonville, TN Oct 22, 1990 31 Chevrolet Jarrett Industries JR Motorsports Mike Bumgarner
33 54 Ty Gibbs Charlotte, NC Oct 4, 2002 19 Toyota SportClips Haircuts Joe Gibbs Racing Chris Gayle
34 02 Blaine Perkins Bakersfield, CA Feb 28, 2000 22 Chevrolet AUTOParkit Our Motorsports Kris Bowen
35 1 Sam Mayer Franklin, WI Jun 26, 2003 19 Chevrolet Accelerate Pros Talent JR Motorsports Taylor Moyer
36 26 Derek Griffith Hudson, NH Feb 9, 1997 25 Toyota Toyota Racing Sam Hunt Racing Allen Hart
37 44 Howie Disavino III Chesterfield, VA Apr 10, 2001 21 Chevrolet Travis Mills Foundation Alpha Prime Racing Michael Brandt