Brandon Brown Wins the Sparks 300 at Talladega

Credit: Chris Graythen

Brandon Brown earned his first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory on Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway. NASCAR called the Sparks 300 due to darkness with five laps remaining of the scheduled 113 laps. 

Brown, who led eight laps, was emotional about the victory as he thanked his dad over the radio after the race concluded. 

“It’s really hard to capture just one single emotion,” Brown said, “It’s just something Dad and I have been working on since I was nine years old." 

What does the win really mean to Brown? Pretty much everything, considering all he had to go through to get to this point. 

“It comes from years and years and years of just relentless hours, relentless work in the shop," Brown said of his emotion following the victory. "Missing proms, missing homecomings, missing college events, missing friends birthdays, weddings - my cousin's wedding. You're missing everything to be in the shop to dedicate yourself 110% into your sport.

"To finally see it come through and finally feel victory, it's just one of those things that you've always dreamed of, and you always wonder what would I do, what would I say. It's everything cumulating into one single event that was just pure bliss." 

Brandon Jones finished second, followed by Justin Allgaier, Daniel Hemric, and Jordan Anderson, who earned his first top-five finish of the 2021 season as a driver and second as an owner. 

NASCAR was unable to continue the event after a caution fell for contact between Brett Moffitt and Harrison Burton. Burton spun and also collected Riley Herbst. 

The Talladega “Big One” occurred on Lap 89 after Jeb Burton and Moffitt collided in Turn 3. The contact sent Moffitt into JR Motorsports’ Noah Gragson. Gragson turned his Chevrolet into the outside wall and collected Myatt Snider. 

Sam Mayer and regular-season champion AJ Allmendinger were the first cars out of the event after the driver of the No. 8 lost control of his Chevrolet. Contact between the drivers sent both into the outside wall, and they ended the day in 38th and 39th, respectively. 

The Xfinity Series heads to the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL next Saturday, Oct. 9th. Allmendinger is the defending winner from one year ago. Can he clinch his place into the Round of 8 with another victory?

Find out on Oct. 9th at 3 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1. 

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