It isn’t necessary to lead a load of laps to win a NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.Here are the winners of the past five Xfinity races at NASCAR’s biggest track and the number of laps each led: Justin Haley, 2; Jeb Burton, 20; Brandon Brown, 8; Noah Gragson, 7; and AJ Allmendinger, 3.MORE: The most (and least) accident-prone drivers at TalladegaIt often is necessary, however, to run a fierce final lap. In last October’s race, Allmendinger edged second-place Sam Mayer by .015 of a second, the third-closest Xfinity finish in track history.Chances are good Saturday’s 300-mile race will produce another tight finish.Here are details for Saturday’s race:Details for Saturday’s Xfinity race at Talladega Superspeedway(All times Eastern)START: The command to start engines will be given by Timmy Hiers of Ag-Pro at 4:08 p.m. … The green flag is scheduled to wave at 4:20 p.m.PRERACE: Xfinity garage opens at 1 p.m. … Driver introductions begin at 3:30 p.m. … The invocation will be given by Tony Roberts of Abundant Life Church in Alabaster, Alabama at 4 p.m. … The national anthem will be performed by the Oak Grove High School Band at 4:01 p.m.DISTANCE: The race is 113 laps (300 miles) on the 2.66-mile track.STAGES: Stage 1 ends at Lap 25. Stage 2 ends at Lap 50.STARTING LINEUP: Talladega Xfinity starting lineupTV/RADIO: FS1 will broadcast the race at 4 p.m. … NASCAR RaceDay airs at 3 p.m. on FS1. … Motor Racing Network coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. and can be heard at mrn.com. … SiriusXN NASCAR Radio will carry the MRN broadcast.FORECAST: Weather Underground — Mostly sunny with a high of 73 degrees and no chance of rain at the start of the race.LAST TIME: AJ Allmendinger won last October’s Xfinity race at Talladega, outrunning Sam Mayer by .015 of a second. Landon Cassill was third.

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Jeb Burton survived two overtimes to win Saturday’s Xfinity race at Talladega Superspeedway for his second career series victory.Burton gave car owner Jordan Anderson his first series win.MORE: Talladega Xfinity resultsMORE: Xfinity points after Talladega raceSheldon Creed finished second and was followed by Parker Kligerman, Cole Custer and Brennan Poole. Custer won the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus.Nineteen of the 38 cars failed to finish in a race that had 10 cautions and saw one car roll six times and another car land on its roof. Only Blaine Perkins, who climbed out of his car after it rolled six times, was transported to a local hospital for further evaluation. All other drivers were released from the infield care center.Austin Hill leads the season standings by four points on John Hunter Nemechek. Chandler Smith is 19 points behind Hill.

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Jeb Burton scored his second career Xfinity Series race, taking the checkered flag in a race that went to double overtime, saw one car roll six times and another car end up upside down.Sheldon Creed finished second. Parker Kligerman placed third. Cole Custer finished fourth. Brennan Poole completed the top five.This the first Xfinity victory for Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito Autosport, which began competing in the series in 2021.The race featured 10 cautions. There were 48 caution laps out of the 121 laps run.Blaine Perkins was taken to a local hospital for further evaluation after his car rolled six times down the backstretch at the end of the second stage. Perkins climbed from his car after it was involved in a multi-car crash that also saw Dexter Stacey slam the inside wall. Stacey was uninjured.Daniel Hemric‘s car rolled halfway over and stopped upside down after a crash two laps from the scheduled finish. He was leading when he went down the track to the bottom lane to block and had contact with Sheldon Creed. Hemric’s car came up the track and was struck by other cars and got on its roof.“I didn’t honestly think I was as far as out as I was and I tried to (come) back,” Hemric said after exiting the infield care center. “I feel like the move I made was late with the run (Sheldon Creed) had. Trying to find a way to win a speedway race.”Custer won the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus after Sammy Smith, John Hunter Nemechek and Josh Berry were eliminated in incidents.“This is the happiest I’ve ever been finishing fourth,” Custer said.Stage 1 winner: Justin AllgaierStage 2 winner: Jeb BurtonWho had a good race: Any driver who finished. Half of the 38-car field failed to finish. … Sheldon Creed matched his career-best finish of second. … Parker Kligerman matched his career-best finish of third. … Caesar Bacarella finished a career-high sixth. … Ryan Ellis finished a career-high 11th.Who had a bad race: The 19 drivers who failed to finish, including Daniel Hemric (21st), Chandler Smith (25th), Justin Allgaier (28th), Sam Mayer (29th), Josh Berry (30th) and John Hunter Nemechek (32nd).Next: The series races April 29 at Dover (1:30 p.m. ET on FS1)

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Blaine Perkins climbed from his car after it rolled six times during Saturday’s Xfinity Series race at Talladega Superspeedway. He was transported to a local hospital for further evaluation.The race was stopped for 11 minutes, 55 seconds on Lap 49 for the multi-car crash. Perkins was hit by Jade Buford. The contact turned Perkins’ yellow car sideways and it began a series of rolls down the backstretch. A tire came off his car and struck the front of Kaz Grala‘s car.MORE: Jeb Burton wins wrecked-filled raceThe incident started when contact sent Dexter Stacey‘s car hard into the inside wall on the backstretch.“Just got free, took the air from me and got sideways and just couldn’t cut it back and hit the inside wall,” said Stacey after exiting the infield care center.Stacey said the contact “wasn’t as bad as it looked. I thought it was going to be a hard hit, too, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.”
Wow. Unbelievable he got out on his own. Blaine Perkins being transported to an area hospital for further evaluation. https://t.co/13vag1ILsD
— Jamie Little (@JamieLittleTV) April 22, 2023
#NASCAR … Damage to Blaine Perkins’ car after rolling over six times. pic.twitter.com/qcJPTjn67U
— Dustin Long (@dustinlong) April 22, 2023

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Denny Hamlin saw NASCAR Chairman Jim France’s name pop up on his phone this week and thought “Oh s—-, here we go again.”It had only been about a month since NASCAR penalized Hamlin 25 points and $50,000 for comments he made on his podcast about wrecking Ross Chastain at Phoenix. And in that time, team owners, including Hamlin, skipped a quarterly meeting with NASCAR officials because of an impasse between the two sides on charters.But no, Hamlin wasn’t in trouble this time. Instead, France called to inform Hamlin he had been selected to the list of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers.“It was a good call,” Hamlin said Saturday after winning the pole for Sunday’s Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway. “He said this is a very high honor and I acknowledged it. … Hopefully, there’s one more big one we can go.”Hamlin, who is tied with Herb Thomas for 16th on the all-time Cup wins list with 48, seeks his first Cup title.Kyle Larson had a similar reaction as Hamlin when NASCAR Senior Advisor Mike Helton’s name came up on his phone last week. Larson was in the middle of a bike ride and finished it before calling Helton back.“I’m like nervous,” Larson said, “because I’m like, ‘Man, Bristol just happened, am I trouble or something?”Larson was anxious since he and Ryan Preece had contact in the Bristol Dirt Race, although officials didn’t penalize either driver.“It’s Thursday, are you guys going to suspend me this late in the week?” Larson said he thought.No, it was Helton telling Larson he also had been selected to NASCAR’s list of 75 Greatest Drivers.“i was honestly just like speechless because I didn’t really at the time think that I was deserving to be on that list,” Larson said. “You think about 75 years. There had to have been more than 75 drivers better than me to this point. So I didn’t really feel like I deserved to be on it.”But the stats show that Larson is worthy of inclusion on to the list. He won the 2021 Cup title, scoring 10 wins that season. His 21 Cup victories rank 38th on the all-time list, tied with NASCAR Hall of Famers Bobby Labonte and Benny Parsons, along with Jeff Burton and Jack Smith.

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