Race Lineup

The official 2022 Sparks 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series race lineup, determined by qualifying results, shows the starting positions of all drivers at Talladega Superspeedway.

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.
Austin Hill leads the field to the green flag
Talladega, Alabama - October 1, 2022 : Austin Hill, driver of the #21 Bennett Transportation Chevrolet, leads the field to the green flag to start the NASCAR Xfinity Series Sparks 300 at Talladega Superspeedway.
Chris GraythenGetty Images
Race lineup for the Sparks 300 at Talladega Superspeedway
ST # DRIVER MAKE SPD TIME BHND SPONSOR TEAM CREW CHIEF
1 21 Austin Hill Chevrolet 182.036 52.605 0.000 Bennett Transportation Richard Childress Racing Andy Street
2 54 Ty Gibbs Toyota 181.981 52.621 0.016 SportClips Haircuts Joe Gibbs Racing Chris Gayle
3 2 Sheldon Creed Chevrolet 181.870 52.653 0.048 Whelen Richard Childress Racing Jeff Stankiewicz
4 7 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 181.529 52.752 0.147 BRANDT Jr Motorsports Jason Burdett
5 19 Brandon Jones Toyota 181.305 52.817 0.212 Menards/Little Hugs Joe Gibbs Racing Jeff Meendering
6 9 Noah Gragson Chevrolet 181.134 52.867 0.262 Bass Pro Shops TrueTimber BRCC Jr Motorsports Luke Lambert
7 8 Josh Berry Chevrolet 181.052 52.891 0.286 Jarrett Industries Jr Motorsports Mike Bumgarner
8 16 AJ Allmendinger Chevrolet 180.932 52.926 0.321 Action Industries Kaulig Racing Bruce Schlicker
9 48 Parker Kligerman Chevrolet 180.782 52.970 0.365 Big Machine Racing Spiked Big Machine Racing Patrick Donahue
10 6 Ryan Vargas Chevrolet 180.655 53.007 0.402 Reddit NASCAR Jd Motorsports Kase Kallenbach
11 18 Trevor Bayne Toyota 180.475 53.060 0.455 Dollar Concrete Joe Gibbs Racing Jason Ratcliff
12 11 Daniel Hemric Chevrolet 180.376 53.089 0.484 First Bank of Alabama Kaulig Racing Jason Trinchere
13 1 Sam Mayer Chevrolet 180.325 53.104 0.499 Accelerate Pros Talent Jr Motorsports Taylor Moyer
14 39 Ryan Sieg Ford 180.149 53.156 0.551 A-GAME Rss Racing Kevin Starland
15 02 Blaine Perkins Chevrolet 180.081 53.176 0.571 AUTOParkit Our Motorsports Kris Bowen
16 27 Jeb Burton Chevrolet 180.068 53.180 0.575 Solid Rock Carriers Our Motorsports Chad Walter
17 68 Brandon Brown Chevrolet 179.949 53.215 0.610 Zero FG Energy Brandonbilt Motorsports Doug Randolph
18 10 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 179.922 53.223 0.618 Voyager: Crypto for All Kaulig Racing Alex Yontz
19 07 Joe Graf Jr Ford 179.915 53.225 0.620 G Coin Ss-glr W/jeff Lefcourt Joe Williams
20 23 Anthony Alfredo Chevrolet 179.885 53.234 0.629 Dude Wipes Our Motorsports Pat Tryson
21 31 Myatt Snider Chevrolet 179.740 53.277 0.672 TaxSlayer Jordan Anderson Racing Shane Whitbeck
22 34 Jesse Iwuji Chevrolet 179.723 53.282 0.677 Equity Prime Mortgage Jesse Iwuji Motorsports Dan Stillman
23 98 Riley Herbst Ford 179.622 53.312 0.707 Monster Energy Stewart-haas Racing Richard Boswell
24 4 Bayley Currey Chevrolet 179.565 53.329 0.724 Alka-Seltzer Jd Motorsports Wayne Carroll Jr
25 5 Joey Gase Chevrolet 179.326 53.400 0.795 J.F. Electric Bj Mcleod Motorsports Mike Tyska
26 26 Derek Griffith Toyota 179.172 53.446 0.841 Toyota Racing Sam Hunt Racing Allen Hart
27 35 Jeffrey Earnhardt Toyota 179.024 53.490 0.885 Absaroka Emerling Gase Motorsports Jim Gase
28 38 CJ McLaughlin Ford 178.977 53.504 0.899 SciAps Rss Racing Steve Addington
29 91 Mason Massey Chevrolet 178.971 53.506 0.901 Anderson Power Services Dgm Racing Mario Gosselin
30 36 Josh Williams Chevrolet 178.630 53.608 1.003 Star Tron / Alloy Dgm Racing Nathan Kennedy
31 45 Caesar Bacarella Chevrolet 178.507 53.645 1.040 Clear Cryptos Alpha Prime Racing Frank Kerr
32 78 BJ McLeod Chevrolet 178.464 53.658 1.053 B.J. McLeod Motorsports Bj Mcleod Motorsports David Ingram
33 08 David Starr Ford 178.460 53.659 1.054 Five Network Ss-glr W/jeff Lefcourt Jason Miller
34 44 Howie Disavino III Chevrolet 178.105 0.000 52.605 Travis Mills Foundation Alpha Prime Racing Michael Brandt
35 66 JJ Yeley Ford 177.979 0.000 52.605 AMG Sport Motorsports Business Management George Church
36 13 Timmy Hill Toyota 177.930 0.000 52.605 Buffalo Wild Wings / Coble Motorsports Business Management Jason Houghtaling
37 51 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 177.002 0.000 52.605 One Stop / ASE Jeremy Clements Racing Mark Setzer
38 47 Mike Harmon Chevrolet 0.000 0.000 52.605 Alabama Racing Pioneers Mike Harmon Racing Ryan Bell