Race report
NASCAR O'Reilly Talladega II
Brandon Brown wins Talladega NASCAR Xfinity race halted by darkness
Talladega Superspeedway produced another surprise winner Saturday, as Brandon Brown scored his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series win.
Jim Utter
Edited: Oct 2, 2021, 11:58 PM
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Brown was leading the race when a multi-car wreck erupted on Lap 102 of the scheduled 113 to bring out the fifth caution.
With sunset and rain approaching quickly, NASCAR checked with drivers, spotters and its officials in the starter’s stand and determined it was too dark to continue the race.
Brown was declared the winner, his first win in 113 career series starts. It also completed a doubleheader of first-time winners, with Tate Fogleman earning his first career Trucks win earlier in the day.
“Oh my God, this is a dream come true,” Brown said. “Winning at Talladega. Oh my God, dad, we did it – let’s go!
“This is just everything we’ve hoped and dreamed for. Everything I’ve ever wanted to do is take the trophy home to mom and dad. Thank you to all of our partners. Oh my God, this is just so unbelievable.
“Everything shifted top to bottom so much and we just kind of hoped for the best. We saw our moment and we seized it. I’m so proud of everyone at Brandonbilt Motorsports and everyone who’s worked on our team.
“We did it. We did it. We did it.”
This is the third consecutive full-time season Brown, 28, has competed in the Xfinity Series with his family-owned team, which is based in Virginia.
Brandon Jones was credited with the runner-up finish, although his team argued they were leading when the caution was displayed for the last accident.
Justin Allagier was third, Daniel Hemric fourth and Jordan Anderson rounded out the top-five.
Heading to the final race of the first round of the plays at the Charlotte Roval next weekend, Austin Cindric leads the playoff standings by 33 over Allgaier. Allmendinger, who wrecked out of Saturday’s race earlier, is now fourth, 55 behind Cindric.
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Stage 3
Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, the lead-lap cars all pit with Riley Herbst the first off pit road. Jones had to restart the race from the rear after running over equipment during his pit stop.
The race resumed on Lap 55 with Herbst out front followed by Justin Haley, Allgaier, John Hunter Nemechek and Cindric.
Allgaier got a shove to the lead shortly after the restart. Cindric powered back to the front on Lap 56.
Allgaier returned to the lead on Lap 58 as his teammate, Noah Gragson, moved into second.
Jeb Burton grabbed the lead for the first time in the race on Lap 65 as Moffitt ran second. Cindric returned to the front on Lap 66.
On Lap 69, the first group of drivers hit pit road to make a green-flag stop to take on fuel to make it to the end of the race.
Bayley Currey stalled on pit road on Lap 75 to bring out a caution. Four cars had not yet completed their green-flag stops while Herbst was fifth, the first car among those who pit.
On the restart on Lap 80, Herbst returned to the lead followed by Cindric, Gragson, Allgaier and Josh Berry.
Berry gave Gragson a big push on the restart to moved him into the lead for the first time in the race.
On Lap 89, Brett Moffitt got loose and spun down the track and into the oncoming path of Gragson, which triggered a 13-car accident that also collected playoff driver Myatt Snider.
NASCAR red-flagged the race for nearly 16 minutes to clean the track of debris. Jeb Burton inherited the lead once Moffitt pit to repair damage.
On the restart on Lap 94, Jeb Burton was followed by Jones, Allgaier and Haley. Jones got shoved to the lead after the restart.
With 15 laps to go, rain was reported near the speedway adding another element to the impending darkness.
On Lap 100, Brown powered to the lead and on Lap 102 contact between Harrison Burton and Moffitt ignited another multi-car accident that also collected Nemechek and Herbst.
NASCAR decided it was too dark to continue the race and it was called after 107 laps.
Stage 2
Blaine Perkins got a shove to the lead and edged teammate Moffitt for the Stage 2 win.
Nemechek was third, Herbst was fourth and Allgaier rounded out the top-five.
Following the break between Stages 1 and 2, all the lead-lap cars pit with Herbst the first off pit road. The race was halted for about six minutes as track crews had to repair a portion of the Turn 3 wall.
On the restart on Lap 31, Herbst was followed by Nemechek, Snider and Cindric.
With 10 laps remaining in the stage, Herbst maintained a small lead over Cindric while Hemric ran third and Perkins fourth.
With five laps to go, Herbst remained in control of the pack with Cindric in second and Perkins having moved up to third.
Stage 1
Sam Mayer and Allmendinger wrecked on the final lap which allowed Nemechek to take the Stage 1 win under caution.
Brown and Moffitt went four-wide with Mayer and Allmendinger with contact from Moffitt sending Allmendinger up into Moffitt.
Jeb Burton finished second, Herbst was third, Cindric fourth and Snider rounded out the top-five.
Allgaier started on the pole but Cindric went high and grabbed the lead on Lap 1.
Berry powered out to the front on Lap 3 only to see Cindric reclaim the top spot on Lap 4.
A push from Allmendinger sent Berry back into the lead on Lap 7.
Allmendinger powered to the lead off Turn 2 on Lap 10 as Berry ran second and Jones third.
Jones got to the lead on Lap 13 with a push from teammate Harrison Burton as Nemechek ran third.
Harrison Burton grabbed the lead on Lap 17 as Haley went a lap down to the field.
With five laps remaining in the stage, Nemechek got a shove to the lead as Joe Gibbs Racing teammates ran first through fourth.
Haley had to start the race from the rear of the field because of improperly applied decals to his No. 11 Chevrolet. He also had to serve a pass-through penalty on pit road once the race went green.
Cla # Driver Manufacturer Laps Time Gap Interval Laps Led 1 68 
Brandon Brown Chevrolet 107 2:04'56.485 8 2 19 Brandon Jones Toyota 107 2:04'56.812 0.327 0.327 12 3 7 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 107 2:04'57.102 0.617 0.290 7 4 18 Daniel Hemric Toyota 107 2:04'57.436 0.951 0.334 5 31 Jordan Anderson Chevrolet 107 2:04'57.936 1.451 0.500 6 11 Justin Haley Chevrolet 107 2:04'58.555 2.070 0.619 7 10 Jeb Burton Chevrolet 107 2:04'58.963 2.478 0.408 7 8 22 Austin Cindric Ford 107 2:04'59.581 3.096 0.618 10 9 1 Josh Berry Chevrolet 107 2:05'00.074 3.589 0.493 3 10 07 Joe Jr. Chevrolet 107 2:05'00.529 4.044 0.455 1 11 39 Ryan Sieg Ford 107 2:05'00.856 4.371 0.327 12 48 Jade Buford Chevrolet 107 2:05'01.265 4.780 0.409 13 23 Blaine Perkins Chevrolet 107 2:05'01.582 5.097 0.317 2 14 92 Josh Williams Chevrolet 107 2:05'01.972 5.487 0.390 15 52 Joey Gase Chevrolet 107 2:05'01.973 5.488 0.001 16 99 J.J. Yeley Toyota 107 2:05'01.974 5.489 0.001 17 26 Santino Ferrucci Toyota 107 2:05'02.006 5.521 0.032 18 44 Tommy Joe Martins Chevrolet 107 2:05'02.506 6.021 0.500 19 17 Garrett Smithley Chevrolet 107 2:05'02.507 6.022 0.001 20 47 Kyle Weatherman Chevrolet 107 2:05'03.335 6.850 0.828 21 36 
Alex Labbé Chevrolet 107 2:05'06.782 10.297 3.447 1 22 54 John Hunter Nemechek Toyota 107 2:05'07.271 10.786 0.489 8 23 5 Matt Mills Chevrolet 106 2:05'04.508 1 Lap 1 Lap 24 51 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 104 2:05'05.342 3 Laps 2 Laps 25 20 Harrison Burton Toyota 101 1:52'57.315 6 Laps 3 Laps 2 26 02 Brett Moffitt Chevrolet 101 1:52'57.428 6 Laps 0.113 3 27 98 Riley Herbst Ford 101 1:52'57.500 6 Laps 0.072 26 28 66 Jason White Toyota 101 1:52'57.937 6 Laps 0.437 29 0 Jeffrey Earnhardt Chevrolet 93 1:46'03.623 14 Laps 8 Laps 30 9 Noah Gragson Chevrolet 88 1:34'54.078 19 Laps 5 Laps 8 31 2 Myatt Snider Chevrolet 88 1:34'54.251 19 Laps 0.173 32 90 Caeser Bacarella Chevrolet 88 1:34'55.256 19 Laps 1.005 33 6 Ryan Vargas Chevrolet 88 1:34'55.848 19 Laps 0.592 34 74 CJ Mclaughlin Chevrolet 88 1:34'56.124 19 Laps 0.276 35 78 Mason Massey Toyota 88 1:34'56.328 19 Laps 0.204 4 36 15 Bayley Currey Chevrolet 73 1:20'31.220 34 Laps 15 Laps 2 37 4 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 50 1:03'03.125 57 Laps 23 Laps 38 8 Sam Mayer Chevrolet 24 20'41.297 83 Laps 26 Laps 39 16 A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 24 20'41.346 83 Laps 0.049 3 40 61 David Starr Toyota 20 19'39.333 87 Laps 4 Laps
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