When heading to Talladega Superspeedway, the chaos that surrounds the 2.66-mile superspeedway often lends itself to surprise winners and career-high runs. Saturday’s Ag-Pro 300 was – kind of — an exception to the rule, as Jeb Burton claimed his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory in the rain-shortened contest.
With Burton’s triumph on Saturday Afternoon, the 28-year-old joins Ty Gibbs, Myatt Snider and Josh Berry as the fourth first-time winner in the NASCAR Xfinity Series this season, through only eight events this season.
The Halifax, Virginia-native had control over the race and was getting prepared to lead the field back to the restart, when the skies opened up, forcing NASCAR to call the event as official, after only 90 laps.
Austin Cindric – who led a race-high 24 laps — finished in second-place, with Burton’s Kaulig Racing teammate AJ Allmendinger finishing in the third position. Riley Herbst and Ryan Sieg rounded out the top-five finishers in Saturday’s rain-shortened event.
The final caution of the event came on lap 86, when Joe Graf Jr. blew a tire, sending him into the outside wall, collecting Brandon Jones, Ty Dillon, Collin Garrett, Caesar Bacarella, Joey Gase and Michael Annett. Of the seven cars involved, only Colin Garrett was able to retain his position, finishing in 15th.
Exiting Talladega, Austin Cindric continues to lead the regular season championship by 59 points over Daniel Hemric, with Harrison Burton, Jeb Burton and Justin Haley rounding out the top-five. As it stands, Brandon Brown holds the final spot in the series’ playoffs by 15 points over Riley Herbst.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series will take another weekend off while the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series travel to Kansas Speedway, but will return for a tripleheader “Throwback Weekend” at Darlington Raceway from May 7th to 9th.
[…] finish caps off an impressive weekend for Kaulig Racing, with Jeb Burton claiming his first career Xfinity Series win thanks to a rain-shortened Saturday […]