Jeb Burton must have been doing a rain dance in his car when the skies opened up over Talladega Superspeedway during Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series race.
It paid off, as Burton was the leader in his No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevy when a heavy shower hit the 2.66 mile speedway with 24 laps remaining, putting the race under the red flag.
Moments later, NASCAR officials called the race official, giving Burton the win in the Ag Pro 300 – his first career series victory.
“Unbelievable, man,” said Burton. “It’s been a tough road to get to this point. Just an unbelievable race team. Today we had Mother Nature on our side, but we had a fast car anyway. We ran up front all day.”
Burton, the 28-year-old son of former Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton, led 21 laps, the second highest on the day.
“We’ve been building and building and building, and I feel like I’ve kind of been the weak link the last couple of races, and I need to clean some things up. Just the momentum, that’s what I needed… I want to win races. I told them (Kaulig Racing) that I wanted to come there and hang banners.”
Burton had the lead when the final caution flew for a multi-car crash on the backstretch on lap 84. The crash broke out when Joe Graf, Jr. cut a tire, sending him up the track and into Michael Annett’s car. Annett’s car then tagged Ty Dillon, sending Dillon up the track and into Brandon Jones. Two other cars spun behind them.
In a race and at a track known for big crashes and multiple cautions, that was the only big issue on the day.
As the field came around under caution, the skies opened up. With the race being well past the halfway point – which would make it official – the heavy rains would make it take too long to dry the racing surface to complete the event, leading officials to end the race short of the scheduled distance.
Austin Cindric battled at the front of the field most of the day, leading the most laps in the event, pacing the field four times for 24 laps. He finished second in the end.
“We obviously led a lot of laps and were just able to get hooked up with our Ford teammates there,” said Cindric. “That was the most fun I’ve had in a while and really proud of Riley (Herbst) and Ryan (Sieg). We’ve done a lot of work over the last couple weeks after Daytona to try and get better together and that’s hard when you’re not working on the same race team, so props to those guys, props to Ford Performance for giving us a platform for that. Our Snap-On Tools Ford Mustang was really fast, but the rain came at the wrong time – maybe a lap too soon, I don’t know.
“Jeb has done a good job here in the past, so congrats to him. It’s always cool to get your first.”
A.J. Allmendinger came home in third, with Riley Herbst in fourth and Tucker, Georgia’s Ryan Sieg in fifth.
Noah Gragson finished in sixth, giving him the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus available as the highest finishing eligible driver.
“A hundred thousand dollars is a big deal for us,” Gragson said. “This is two times in a row. It’s pretty cool to be able to do that, but, man, I wanted to race for the win.”
Brandon Brown, Justin Haley, Myatt Snider and Harrison Burton rounded out the top 10.
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Talladega Superspeedway – Talladega, AL
Ag-Pro 300 – April 24, 2021
1. (9) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 90.
2. (1) Austin Cindric, Ford, 90.
3. (11) A.J. Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 90.
4. (19) Riley Herbst, Ford, 90.
5. (17) Ryan Sieg, Ford, 90.
6. (4) Noah Gragson, Chevrolet, 90.
7. (18) Brandon Brown, Chevrolet, 90.
8. (5) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 90.
9. (10) Myatt Snider, Chevrolet, 90.
10. (3) Harrison Burton, Toyota, 90.
11. (23) Tommy Joe Martins, Chevrolet, 90.
12. (2) Daniel Hemric, Toyota, 90.
13. (27) Timmy Hill, Ford, 90.
14. (14) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 90.
15. (22) Colin Garrett, Chevrolet, 90.
16. (26) David Starr, Toyota, 90.
17. (13) Brett Moffitt, Chevrolet, 90.
18. (20) Jade Buford, Chevrolet, 90.
19. (37) Colby Howard, Chevrolet, 90.
20. (32) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 90.
21. (30) Alex Labbe, Chevrolet, 90.
22. (33) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, 90.
23. (21) Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, 90.
24. (38) Natalie Decker, Chevrolet, 90.
25. (36) Matt Mills, Chevrolet, 90.
26. (34) Jesse Little, Chevrolet, 90.
27. (31) Mason Massey, Toyota, 90.
28. (15) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 90.
29. (8) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 90.
30. (39) Ryan Vargas #, Chevrolet, 90.
31. (6) Josh Berry #, Chevrolet, 90.
32. (12) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 88.
33. (35) Joe Graf, Jr., Chevrolet, 88.
34. (24) Gray Gaulding, Chevrolet, Electrical, 87.
35. (16) Ty Dillon, Toyota, Accident, 87.
36. (29) Joey Gase, Ford, 85.
37. (7) Brandon Jones, Toyota, Accident, 84.
38. (28) Caesar Bacarella, Chevrolet, DVP, 84.
39. (40) Jason White, Ford, Suspension, 51.
40. (25) Bayley Currey, Chevrolet, Overheating, 34.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 139.164 mph.
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 43 Mins, 13 Secs. Margin of Victory: Under Caution Seconds.
Caution Flags: 4 for 15 laps.
Lead Changes: 22 among 12 drivers.
Lap Leaders: D. Hemric 1-15;N. Gragson 16;D. Hemric 17-19;A. Cindric 20-21;N. Gragson 22-24;J. Haley 25-26;J. White 27;J. Burton 28-37;A. Cindric 38-40;J. Burton 41;A. Cindric 42-49;N. Gragson 50-51;R. Sieg 52;N. Gragson 53-54;M. Snider 55-57;A. Cindric 58-68;H. Burton 69;B. Brown 70;C. Howard 71-73;R. Vargas # 74-76;H. Burton 77-81;J. Burton 82-91.
Leaders Summary: (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led) Austin Cindric 4 times for 24 laps; Jeb Burton 3 times for 21 laps; Daniel Hemric 2 times for 18 laps; Noah Gragson 4 times for 8 laps; Harrison Burton 2 times for 6 laps; Colby Howard 1 time for 3 laps; Myatt Snider 1 time for 3 laps; Ryan Vargas # 1 time for 3 laps; Justin Haley 1 time for 2 laps; Jason White 1 time for 1 lap; Ryan Sieg 1 time for 1 lap; Brandon Brown 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 11,10,9,22,20,16,18,19,68,7
Stage #2 Top Ten: 9,7,22,19,54,2,18,02,1,68
Playoff Standings: 1. Austin Cindric – 367 (2 Wins) (Points Leader); 2. Jeb Burton – 270 (1 Win); 3. A.J. Allmendinger – 257 (1 Win); 4. Myatt Snider – 239 (1 Win); 5. Justin Allgaier – 217 (1 Win); 6. Daniel Hemric – 308; 7. Harrison Burton – 275; 8. Justin Haley – 269; 9. Jeremy Clements – 221; 10. Noah Gragson – 217; 11. Brandon Jones – 198; 12. Brandon Brown – 191.
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