An overtime thriller ends with a Noah Gragson Triumph at Talladega Superspeedway in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Ag-Pro 300 on Saturday.

It was an Earnhardt Saturday in Earnhardt country.

An Overtime Thriller Ends with a Noah Gragson Triumph at Talladega

Grabbing the lead on a restart in the third overtime, Noah Gragson—driving for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s JR Motorsports—won the Ag-Pro 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series at Talladega Superspeedway.

Gragson beat Jeffrey Earnhardt, grandson of seven-time NASCAR Cup champion Dale Earnhardt Sr., who was driving a black No. 3 Chevrolet in a special appearance for Richard Childress Racing, which fielded Dale Sr.’s car during his heyday.

On the mammoth 2.66-mile track where Dale Sr. won a record ten times and Dale Jr. added another six, Jeffrey Earnhardt crossed the finish line 0.131 seconds behind Gragson, who won for the first time at Talladega, the second time this season and the seventh time in his career.

Gragson grabbed the lead when JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier ran out of fuel as he led the field to the third-overtime restart on lap 123. The driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet held the top spot the rest of the way as Earnhardt worked his way forward from his eighth-place restarting position. The win was Gragson’s first this season since securing a spot in the final four last year at Martinsville.

Moments after the race, Gragson was already planning his celebration in the notorious Talladega infield.

“This team at Jr. Motorsports, they never quit,” Gragson said. “We’ve had a kind of a rough last month, just not getting the finishes that we wanted … I couldn’t make moves on the top there very much at the beginning of the race, so I just kept running the bottom—running the bottom—and we’d get shuffled back and keep moving back up.

“I’ve got to run in the Cup race (on Sunday), but the Talladaga Boulevard looks a lot more enchanting right now and inviting, so I might have to go out there and then throw some beads.”

Jeffrey Earnhardt Living the Dream at Talladega

On the second of the two overtime laps, Earnhardt slipped past AJ Allmendinger for second but couldn’t catch Gragson through the tri-oval.

“I’m living the dream here—I’m just so thankful to get this opportunity,” said Earnhardt, whose crew chief, FOX Sports broadcaster Larry McReynolds, was serving his first stint on a pit box since 2000. “Thanks to RCR for building this amazing race car. We were fast all weekend long.

“We just fell a little short there, but congrats to Noah. He’s good at plate races.”

The Dash 4 Cash Winner

Allmendinger had led on the second overtime restart and appeared to have control of the race when Jeremy Clements’ Chevrolet stalled in the second turn to cause the tenth and final caution of the race. With his third-place result, however, Allmendinger claimed the $100,000 Xfinity Dash 4 Cash bonus available to the top finisher among four eligible drivers.

“I thought I crashed about seven times on the last lap,” Allmendinger said. “I really appreciate what Xfinity and Comcast do to allow us to race for 100 grand at these four races. I didn’t realize that the 7 (Allgaier) started laying back, and you can’t take off before him. I was really checking up when he ran out of fuel.

“At that point, the 9 (Gragson) had such a run. This Chevy handled really well. We just lacked kind of the top-end speed, so they could get to my bumper, then basically boot me out of the way. I was just hanging on there. Jeffrey did a good job to make the move (for second place).”

Setting Up the Finish and the Best of the Rest

Austin Hill, winner of the season opener at Daytona, led a race-high 67 laps and was out front with fewer than four laps left when Sam Mayer lost control of his Chevrolet in the outside lane and knocked Hill’s Chevy into the infield wall. Both cars were damaged too severely to continue.

Ryan Sieg and Landon Cassill finished fourth and fifth behind Allmendinger, with Cassill scoring his second straight top-five result. Anthony Alfredo, Riley Herbst, Joe Graf Jr., Myatt Snider, and Brett Moffitt completed the top ten.

NASCAR Xfinity Series Point Standings

1. (19)  Noah Gragson, Chevrolet, 124.
2. (1)  Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, 124.
3. (13)  AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 124.
4. (10)  Ryan Sieg, Ford, 124.
5. (6)  Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 124.
6. (12)  Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 124.
7. (20)  Riley Herbst, Ford, 124.
8. (24)  Joe Graf Jr, Ford, 124.
9. (31)  Myatt Snider, Chevrolet, 124.
10. (18)  Brett Moffitt, Chevrolet, 124.
11. (16)  Josh Berry, Chevrolet, 124.
12. (21)  Alex Labbe, Chevrolet, 124.
13. (9)  Drew Dollar, Toyota, 124.
14. (32)  Shane Lee, Ford, 124.
15. (22)  Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 124.
16. (36)  Joey Gase, Ford, 124.
17. (29)  Bayley Currey, Chevrolet, 124.
18. (37)  Kyle Sieg #, Ford, 124.
19. (26)  Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 124.
20. (7)  Ryan Vargas, Chevrolet, 124.
21. (33)  Gray Gaulding, Chevrolet, 123.
22. (11)  Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, Fuel Pressure, 122.
23. (34)  Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 122.
24. (4)  Sheldon Creed #, Chevrolet, Accident, 113.
25. (23)  Caesar Bacarella, Chevrolet, Accident, 113.
26. (15)  Brandon Jones, Toyota, DVP, 110.
27. (2)  Austin Hill #, Chevrolet, Accident, 110.
28. (14)  Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, Accident, 109.
29. (8)  Kaz Grala(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 103.
30. (17)  Brandon Brown, Chevrolet, Accident, 103.
31. (27)  Matt Mills, Chevrolet, Accident, 96.
32. (38)  Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, DVP, 84.
33. (35)  David Starr, Ford, DVP, 83.
34. (5)  Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, DVP, 79.
35. (3)  Ty Gibbs, Toyota, Accident, 76.
36. (28)  JJ Yeley, Chevrolet, DVP, 51.
37. (25)  Mason Massey, Chevrolet, Accident, 47.
38. (30)  Chandler Smith(i), Toyota, Accident, 47.

The Ag-Pro 300 Stats

Average Speed of Race Winner:  123.024 mph.

Time of Race:  Two Hrs, 40 Mins, 52 Secs. The Margin of Victory:  0.131 Seconds.

Caution Flags:  Ten for 39 laps.

Lead Changes:  25 among 14 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   J. Earnhardt 0;T. Gibbs 1-4;J. Earnhardt 5-14;A. Hill # 15-18;A. Allmendinger 19;S. Creed # 20;A. Hill # 21-22;J. Berry 23-27;A. Alfredo 28-29;B. Brown 30;J. Yeley 31-32;S. Mayer 33;N. Gragson 34-37;A. Alfredo 38;A. Hill # 39-44;S. Mayer 45;J. Allgaier 46-50;D. Dollar 51;A. Hill # 52-68;D. Starr 69;T. Gibbs 70;A. Hill # 71-108;J. Allgaier 109-113;A. Allmendinger 114-118;J. Allgaier 119-121;N. Gragson 122-124.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Austin Hill # five times for 67 laps; Justin Allgaier three times for 13 laps; Jeffrey Earnhardt one time for ten laps; Noah Gragson two times for seven laps; AJ Allmendinger two times for six laps; Ty Gibbs two times for five laps; Josh Berry one time for five laps; Anthony Alfredo two times for three laps; JJ Yeley one time for two laps; Sam Mayer two times for two laps; David Starr one time for one lap; Drew Dollar one time for one lap; Sheldon Creed # one time for one lap; Brandon Brown one time for one lap.

Stage 1 Top Ten: 8,54,16,10,21,7,9,23,1,02

Stage 2 Top Ten: 7,1,21,19,54,18,68,3,31,27