Noah Gragson Wins XFINITY race at Talladega

Credit: Debbie Ross for Skirts and Scuffs 

Noah Gragson earned his second win of the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season on Saturday at Talladega Super Speedway. Gragson gained the lead in triple overtime, after restarting fourth during the final restart of the evening. 

The Ag-Pro 300 win is the seventh of Gragson’s series career (at seven different tracks) and second at a superspeedway. The JR Motorsports driver won the season opener at Daytona in February of 2020.

"I felt like it was opportunity for us. I didn't really feel like I had the car to control the race. We just didn't have the raw speed in it to be able to lead the line through there." Gragson said of the triple-overtime finishes, "I kinda shifted the way I approached it mid-race, midway through the second stage. Just started running the bottom like an ARCA race and let those guys try to make a move, jump to the outside and they just shuffle themselves back."

"I thought there for a little bit we were gonna run 14th or 15th." 

Jeffrey Earnhardt finished second, followed by AJ Allmendinger, who earned the $100,000 Dash for Cash prize, while Landon Cassill and Ryan Sieg rounded out the top-five finishers. 

Anthony Alfredo finished sixth, Riley Herbst finished seventh, followed by Joe Graf Jr., Myatt Snider, and Brett Moffitt, who finished eighth through 10th place, respectively. 

Austin Hill finished in the 27th position after dominating the afternoon, leading a race-high 67 laps of the 113 scheduled laps. Hill’s day ended after making contact with Sam Mayer, sending the race into its first overtime. 

The No. 45 of Caesar Bacarella and No. 2 of Sheldon Creed caused the second overtime, after the two made heavy contact, ending the day of both drivers. 

Gragson lined up fourth on the third and final restart after the No. 51 of Jeremy Clements stalled on the apron before the leaders could reach the white flag, forcing NASCAR to throw a caution.

The XFINITY Series heads to Dover Motor Speedway next Saturday, where four drivers will compete for the last Dash for Cash event of the 2022 season. Those drivers are AJ Allmendinger, Landon Cassill, Noah Gragson, and Ryan Sieg. 

That race will be broadcast on Fox Sports 1 at 1:30 p.m. ET.