Brandon Brown scores maiden Xfinity win in shortened Sparks Energy 300

Saturday’s NASCAR action at Talladega Superspeedway proved to be a special day for hopeful race winners. Hours after Tate Fogleman secured his maiden Camping World Truck Series victory in wild fashion, Brandon Brown did the same in the Xfinity Series in a race that did not even go the full 300 miles.

The Sparks Energy 300 was shortened from its original 113-lap distance to 107 as darkness hit the track, which does not have lights, a consequence of start times and delays. By the end, Brown led a Brandon 1–2 finish ahead of Brandon Jones as the race ended under caution following a multi-driver wreck. Despite falling short of the playoffs, the win enables him to be the second straight playoff spoiler after Josh Berry did the same at Las Vegas last week.

Justin Allgaier started on the pole, but Austin Cindric had the early advantage and traded the lead with Berry throughout the opening laps. John Hunter Nemechek, who nearly won the Truck race earlier in the day, led until A.J. Allmendinger and Sam Mayer wrecked together on lap 26. The incident resulted in Stage #1 ending under caution and Nemechek scoring the stage win, though he did not receive points as he is a Truck regular. Jeb Burton, Riley Herbst, Cindric, Harrison Burton, Myatt Snider, Allgaier, Jones, Blaine Perkins, and Daniel Hemric rounded out the top ten.

The second stage ran entirely green. As expected out of a superspeedway, the lead was exchanged multiple times with unconventional names included like Joe Graf Jr., who led his first lap since the second race of 2020 and would score his maiden top ten by finishing tenth, and Herbst who dominated the segment. However, it was Perkins who scored his first career stage win ahead of Our Motorsports team-mate Brett Moffitt, Nemechek, Herbst, Allgaier, Jeb and Harrison Burton, Justin Haley, Cindric, and Noah Gragson.

Allgaier kicked off the final segment in the lead, which once again changed hands numerous times as drivers jockeyed for position in their respective lines. On lap 76, Bayley Currey—who had led a lap a few moments prior—stalled on the track for the second race-related caution of the day. A larger incident took place ten laps later when Moffitt was turned and sent down into Gragson, triggering a seven-car accident that also collected Jones, Nemechek, Snider, Caesar Bacarella, and Jeb Burton.

Despite his involvement in the crash, Jones suffered minimal damage and pressed on to take the lead for the ensuing restart. Brown passed him on lap 100.

On lap 103, three-wide racing ended in an explosion when Harrison Burton went sideways and collected Herbst, Moffitt, Nemechek, Jordan Anderson, Alex Labbé, and Josh Williams. As darkness began to fall on the track, multiple drivers reported being unable to see and prompted NASCAR to end the race six laps short.

In addition to his maiden win in NASCAR, Brown scored the first victory for a #68 car in any national series. The Fogleman/Brown victories also marked the first time since 27 August 2016 that there were multiple first-time national series race winners in a day, when Moffitt won in the Trucks at Michigan and Michael McDowell at the Xfinity level at Road America.

Brown exclaimed in his post-race interview, “Oh my God, this is a dream come true! Wow, Talladega! Oh my God, Dad, we did it, let’s go!

“This is just everything we have hoped and dreamed for. This is everything I’ve ever wanted to do was take the trophy home to Mom and Dad.”

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	19	68	Brandon Brown	Brandonbilt Motorsports	Chevrolet	107	Running
2	7	19	Brandon Jones	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	107	Running
3	1	7	Justin Allgaier	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	107	Running
4	6	18	Daniel Hemric	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	107	Running
5	29	31	Jordan Anderson*	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	107	Running
6	8	11	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	107	Running
7	14	10	Jeb Burton	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	107	Running
8	2	22	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	107	Running
9	3	1	Josh Berry	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	107	Running
10	40	07	Joe Graf Jr.	SS-Green Light Racing	Chevrolet	107	Running
11	17	39	Ryan Sieg	RSS Racing	Ford	107	Running
12	26	48	Jade Buford	Big Machine Racing	Chevrolet	107	Running
13	23	23	Blaine Perkins	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	107	Running
14	24	92	Josh Williams	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	107	Running
15	39	52	Joey Gase	Jimmy Means Racing	Chevrolet	107	Running
16	38	99	J.J. Yeley	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Chevrolet	107	Running
17	33	26	Santino Ferrucci	Sam Hunt Racing	Toyota	107	Running
18	18	44	Tommy Joe Martins	Martins Motorsports	Chevrolet	107	Running
19	35	17	Garrett Smithley	SS-Green Light Racing	Chevrolet	107	Running
20	25	47	Kyle Weatherman	Mike Harmon Racing	Chevrolet	107	Running
21	32	36	Alex Labbé	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	107	Running
22	11	54	John Hunter Nemechek*	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	107	Running
23	30	5	Matt Mills	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Toyota	106	Running
24	15	51	Jeremy Clements	Jeremy Clements Racing	Chevrolet	104	Running
25	9	20	Harrison Burton	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	101	Accident
26	16	02	Brett Moffitt	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	101	Accident
27	13	98	Riley Herbst	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	101	Accident
28	34	66	Jason White	MBM Motorsports	Ford	101	Accident
29	31	0	Jeffrey Earnhardt	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	93	Accident
30	4	9	Noah Gragson	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	88	Accident
31	10	2	Myatt Snider	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	88	Accident
32	37	90	Caesar Bacarella	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	88	Accident
33	22	6	Ryan Vargas	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	88	Accident
34	36	74	C.J. McLaughlin	Mike Harmon Racing	Chevrolet	88	Accident
35	27	78	Mason Massey	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Toyota	88	Accident
36	20	15	Bayley Currey*	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	73	Driveshaft
37	21	4	Landon Cassill	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	50	Engine
38	12	8	Sam Mayer	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	24	Accident
39	5	16	A.J. Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	24	Accident
40	28	61	David Starr	MBM Motorsports	Toyota	20	Engine

Bold – Currently in playoffs
Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for Xfinity points