Gragson Gets Talladega Win, Earnhardt Steals Show

Photo Credit to James Gilbert/Getty Images for NASCAR

NASCAR

Gragson Steals Talladega Win Ahead of Jeffrey Earnhardt in Second

TALLADEGA, Ala. – While the Xfinity race winner from Talladega may have been Noah Gragson, Jeffrey Earnhardt won the day in second. The No. 9 for JR Motorsports took command after a teammate ran out of fuel on the last restart. Behind him, the grandson of the NASCAR icon clawed his way to second. It was a treat to see an Earnhardt race a black No. 3 at Talladega, and to see him in the mix late. All around, two fan-favorites led the way to the checkered flag.

While both Stages would be dominated by Daytona winner Austin Hill, he would not win them both. Instead, the Stage 1 win went to Josh Berry, with Hill taking Stage 2. Stage 2 would end prematurely with the first big one of the day. Mason Massey lost a tire, sending the 91 hard towards the inside wall, into the paths of several others.

Another crash would take out all of Joe Gibbs Racing, as Ty Gibbs got bounced around by a bad push from Ryan Sieg. This would be one of four multi-car incidents in the closing laps, sending this race into triple-overtime.

On one ill-fated overtime attempt, Sam Mayer and Austin Hill were both turned from the top five. After leading a race-high 67 laps, the 21 team left Talladega wrecked.

Fuel was ultra-close for all leaders with every additional overtime run. On the final restart, leader Justin Allgaier’s car sputtered as he was coming up to speed. This handed the lead to Noah Gragson, who held off every charge over the remaining two laps. Behind Gragson though, Jeffrey Earnhardt went from sixth to second on the last lap, making moves similar to Dale Earnhardt’s final win here two decades ago. Earnhardt just ran out of time to catch Gragson, following the 9 across the stripe.

“Our 50th Anniversary Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro was awesome,” Gragson said after the win. “This JR Motorsports team never quits, thanks to everyone back at JRM, everybody who helps get all four cars to the racetrack. We have four really fast cars. Luke Lambert and the rest of this Bass Pro Shops team called one hell of a race. It came down to fuel strategy. At one point I was just like ‘Man I can’t get up there, the car just isn’t fast enough.’ But we just never quit, that’s the most important thing. So grateful to all these race fans out here, we’re at Talladega baby!”

“Damn I’m supposed to race the Cup car tomorrow, but Talladega Boulevard sounds a lot better right now, celebrating. We’re going to have some fun. Thank you to all the fans for coming out, thanks to Johnny Morris, everybody at Bass Pro Shops, True Timber, Black Rifle Coffee, Tufco, Superior Essex. They all get our program to the racetrack, a badass race team, a badass pit crew, and thanks to Hendrick Engines. Let’s go celebrate, maybe get some beads and throw them out too. We’ll go have some fun tonight.”

Behind Gragson and Earnhardt, top finishers included Dash4Cash winner AJ Allmendinger, Ryan Sieg, and Landon Cassill. The rest of the top 10 were Anthony Alfredo, Riley Herbst, Joe Graf Jr., Myatt Snider, and Brett Moffitt. See some of the top finisher’s reactions below.

The Xfinity Series returns for the last Dash4Cash race next Saturday from Dover Motor Speedway. Coverage of the A-Game 200 begins at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. Can Gragson go back-to-back at Dover? Tune in next week to see who takes home the Miles the Monster trophy.

Written by Peter Stratta

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Photo Credit to James Gilbert/Getty Images for NASCAR