NASCAR Xfinity Series at Talladega live updates: Jeb Burton wins as the race is red-flagged for rain

Live updates for this event have concluded. The race ended early for rain and Jeb Burton was declared the winner of the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.

The Ag-Pro 300 was 113 laps (300.58 miles) with stages ending on laps 25, 50 and 113. All times are Eastern.

Check back here for live updates throughout the race and follow NASCAR reporter Alex Andrejev on Twitter at @AndrejevAlex.

NASCAR Xfinity Ag-Pro 300 race results

# rookie

Final Stage

Lap 90, 4:54 p.m. OFFICIAL: The skies open up and NASCAR pulls out the red flag for rain with 23 laps left. Jeb Burton is declared the winner, as he was leading the field when the race was called. This is Burton’s first win in the Xfinity Series and Kaulig Racing’s third straight win at Talladega. Austin Cindric finishes in second.

Third-place finisher AJ Allmendinger approached Burton’s car window after the race to tell him he was proud of his Kaulig teammate.

“He drove his ass off to get that win,” Allmendinger said.

Burton also gave an emotional post-race interview on FOX, thanking his team and sponsors who made the season possible after scrapping to put together a fully funded season over multiple years of racing part-time in the Xfinity Series. He said he’s received around 300 congratulatory text messages less than an hour after his victory.

“We’ve wanted this for so long,” Burton said. “It’s been a tough road. To get one out of the way is nice.”

Burton said he feels like his No. 10 team is riding a wave of momentum. This is his fifth top-10 finish this year.

“It’s been a ride,” he said of his hard-fought career. “And hopefully we’re on the uphill climb of it.”

Noah Gragson, who led eight laps, is the winner of the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash prize for a second consecutive race. He finished in sixth and said he again plans to give his winnings to his No. 9 team.

Lap 86, 4:38 p.m.: Another caution comes out, this time for a big crash on the backstretch involving multiple cars. Joe Graf Jr. says he had a flat tire that sent him up the track and into Michael Annett, who went spinning mid-pack. Ty Dillon then slid up into Brandon Jones, and they hit the wall together. Jones’ car has serious front damage. He’ll be done for the day and out of the Dash 4 Cash competition. The running order is Jeb Burton, Austin Cindric and AJ Allmendinger and Riley Herbst.

Lap 75, 4:29 p.m.: The caution comes out for Josh Berry, who spins due to a flat right rear tire, but doesn’t suffer any damage. That’s the first caution for incident. During the flag, Noah Gragson’s radio reports that rain clouds are hovering 10-15 minutes away from the track. There will be just over 30 laps when the race goes green.

Lap 70, 4:23 p.m.: Green flag pit stops begin with Austin Cindric in the leading group. Just before pit stops, Caesar Bacarella (who’s laps down) is told that the “leaders are getting more dicey” after running in a single file line for most of the early laps in the stage.

Lap 58, 4:12 p.m.: Austin Cindric takes the lead from Myatt Snider. Cindric is riding the top lane and most cars fall in line behind him. Meanwhile, further back, Caesar Bacarella has a loose wheel that forces him to pit under green. He’s trying to say something to his teammates over his radio, but they can’t hear him.

Lap 55, 4:13 p.m.: Noah Gragson takes just two tires on the pit stop to win the race off pit road. JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier does all four and might attempt to post a fastest lap to help with starting order for next week.

Stage 2

Lap 50, 4 p.m.: Noah Gragson edges Austin Cindric to win the second stage, sliding ahead of him on the frontstretch. The rest of the finishing order is Justin Allgaier, Cindric, Brandon Jones, Ty Dillon, Myatt Snider, Daniel Hemric, Brett Moffitt, Michael Annett and Brandon Brown. Cindric expresses frustration with the lack of help from teammates. He asks where the No. 98 of Riley Herbst was and is on his radio that Herbst dropped back to get with the 18, so the bottom lane “went soft” by the end of the stage.

“They’re all just backing up to their teammates the whole time,” Cindric says of the competition.

Lap 44, 3:54 p.m.: The running order is Austin Cindric, Justin Haley, Ty Dillon, A.J. Allmendinger, Jeb Burton and Noah Gragson, but each driver is moving lanes and positions. A few laps later, Cindric’s lead grows.

Lap 38, 3:50 p.m.: Austin Cindric is leading again in a swarm of Toyotas, but he’s able to get back out front. He’s been jockeying the lead with Jeb Burton, but Ty Dillon has worked into third and is trying to break into a third lane.

Lap 31, 3:44 p.m.: Jeb Burton leads the opening laps of Stage 2 on the outside lane. Austin Cindric is out front on the inside lane, but he hasn’t been able to secure any lasting lead. Cindric’s radio reports that the No. 54 driven by Ty Dillon is trying to shoot the middle lane further back. Cindric is on alert.

Stage 1

Lap 25, 3:35 p.m.: Justin Haley grabs the stage win, passing Noah Gragson on the final lap of the stage. Jeb Burton, Gragson, Austin Cindric, Harrison Burton, AJ Allmendinger, Daniel Hemric, Brandon Jones, Brandon Brown and Justin Allgaier round out the top-10 for stage points. On pit road, Brett Moffitt has an uncontrolled tire on that stop. Jeffrey Earnhardt has a crew member go over the wall too soon, and Gray Gaulding drives through too many pit boxes. All will restart at the rear.

“Whenever those guys try to make it three-wide, top lane sucks,” Cindric says on his radio. “Bottom lane is gonna be better.”

Lap 23, 3:30 p.m.: Noah Gragson is pulling away from the field now, with more cars dropping to the bottom. He gets a big surge over Austin Cindric.

Lap 20, 3:27 p.m.: Austin Cindric slides by Daniel Hemric to take the lead on the outside lane, but is continuing to battle with Noah Gragson, who leads the inside lane. The cars look split between lanes.

Lap 10, 3:21 p.m.: The outside lane is now the clearly dominant choice, and spotters are feeding drivers the positions of teammates to seek help from later. The running order is Daniel Hemric, Austin Cindric, Harrison Burton, Noah Gragson and Brandon Jones in the top-five.

Lap 5, 3:15 p.m.: Daniel Hemric leads on the outside lane, with Austin Cindric dropping behind him. Justin Haley leads the inside lane, but the outside lane appears to be the early preference with slightly more cars in line. Joey Gase heads to the garage before the start of the race. His team says the No. 28 car lost fuel pressure and they couldn’t get the car re-fired. Gase is running multiple laps down.

Pre-race

Engines have been fired under sunny skies after earlier reports of rain. The weather is expected to remain rain-free through the end of the race. Noah Gragson, Josh Berry, Daniel Hemric and Brandon Jones are the four Xfinity drivers competing the Dash 4 Cash competition, which will award the highest-finishing driver of those four with a $100,000 bonus.

Scary crash closes ARCA race

Derrick Lancaster, a 48-year-old driver, was transported to a local hospital near Talladega Superspeedway after he was involved in a flaming wreck during Saturday’s ARCA race. The General Tire 200 concluded with a single-lap shootout. Corey Heim took the checkered flag. Dave Mader finished second and Nick Sanchez finished third. Click here to read more about Lancaster’s crash and the latest on his condition.

Pre-race pit selection penalties for three teams

NASCAR announces that pre-race technical inspection is complete. Three teams failed twice and will lose their pit selection for the next race at Darlington; Those teams are the No. 54 driven by Ty Dillon (starting 16th), the No. 16 driven by A.J. Allmendinger (11th) and the No. 39 driven by Ryan Sieg (17th). There were no three-time failures, meaning no team will drop to the rear for the start of the race. Austin Cindric is starting on the pole with Daniel Hemric in the front row for the Ag-Pro 300. Cindric has two wins this season, at Daytona and Phoenix, to lead the series in points, followed by Hemric. The green flag is at 4:09 p.m.

Starting lineup for NASCAR Xfinity race at Talladega

# rookie

This story was originally published April 24, 2021 at 3:59 PM.

Alexandra Andrejev

The Charlotte Observer

NASCAR and Charlotte FC beat reporter Alex Andrejev joined The Observer in January 2020 following an internship at The Washington Post. She is a two-time APSE award winner for her NASCAR beat coverage and National Motorsports Press Association award winner. She is the host of McClatchy’s podcast “Payback” about women’s soccer. Support my work with a digital subscription