NASCAR Xfinity Series at Talladega 2016 Results: Winner, Standings and Reaction

Elliott Sadler won't have many happier birthdays than this one when he was awarded the win at the Spark Energy 300 from Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday. And he might not win another one in more dramatic fashion.    

In second place heading into the final turn of NASCAR's overtime lap after a caution with three to go, Sadler was behind Joey Logano, who looked to have the race wrapped up.

Sadler bumped Logano, who was sent sprawling into the wall, while Sadler skidded inside beneath the yellow line but still on the track as the caution light went on.

Because he was still on the track at the time of the caution lap, Sadler was awarded the win instead of rookie Brennan Poole, who passed Sadler and crossed the finish line after the yellow light went on.

Fox Sports: NASCAR showed the replay of the crazy finish:

Talladega Superspeedway tweeted out congratulations and well wishes for the winner:

Here are the results from Saturday's race:

Place	Driver
1	Elliott Sadler
2	Justin Allgaier
3	Brennan Poole
4	Jeremy Clements
5	Brendan Gaughan
6	Austin Dillon
7	Daniel Suarez
8	Matt Tifft
9	Chase Elliott
10	Aric Almirola
11	Justin Marks
12	Garrett Smithley
13	Darrell Wallace Jr.
14	Benny Gordon
15	Ryan Preece
16	JJ Yeley
17	Jeb Burton
18	Ross Chastain
19	Brandon Jones
20	Ty Dillon
21	Ryan Sieg
22	Erik Jones
23	Brandon McReynolds
24	Blake Koch
25	Travis Kvapil
26	John Wes Townley
27	Joey Logano
28	Mario Gosselin
29	Ray Black Jr.
30	Carl Long
31	Ryan Reed
32	John Jackson
33	Bobby Gerhart
34	Dakoda Armstrong
35	Ryan Ellis
36	BJ McLeod
37	Chris Cockrum
38	Joey Gase
39	Morgan Shepherd
40	Jeff Green

And this is what the Xfinity Series standings look like:

Place	Driver	Points
1	Elliott Sadler	314
2	Daniel Suarez	314
3	Ty Dillon	281
4	Justin Allgaier	280
5	Brendan Gaughan	279
6	Brandon Jones	273
7	Erik Jones	263
8	Brennan Poole	251
9	Darrell Wallace Jr.	229
10	Ryan Reed	221

Sprint Cup driver Kasey Kahne was one of the many watching the exciting finish:

With temperatures reaching toward the high 80s, the track heated up to as hot as 130 degrees, which made things much slicker. In a field with a number of inexperienced drivers, those were dangerous conditions, to say the least. 

It also didn't help that plenty of drivers  were attempting to utilize bump drafting, which increases the chances of wrecks. It played a major part in the final sequence of the race, as the final caution of the day was the seventh in total.

With the win, Sadler moves into a tie for first place in the Xfinity points standings with Daniel Suarez, who started the day with a nine-point lead. Suarez finished the race in seventh place.

Matt Tifft, who started the race on the pole, led 20 of the first 21 laps before a competitive caution bunched the field back up. With drivers headed to the pits during the caution, Tifft still managed to get out of pit road with the lead. 

He held the lead for an additional six laps before Austin Dillon and Ryan Reed overtook him. Tifft finished the race in eighth place.

But the new leaders couldn't do much to build a cushion after Chris Cockrum and Joey Gase got loose. It looked like Cockrum was bumped from behind by Garrett Smithley, who then skidded into Gase.

Both drivers skidded off the track, with Cockrum taking the worst of it, via Fox Sports:

"

Replay: Big crash at @TalladegaSuperS. Hard hit for Chris Cockrum. #NASCAR @NASCARonFOX @NASCAR_XFINITY https://t.co/zwwb9BnQSk

— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) April 30, 2016"

Everyone was OK, but it scared USA Today's Jeff Gluck:

Logano took the lead on the restart, but it didn't last long after Brandon Jones roared his way to the front on Lap 39. He held the lead until Lap 76 before going to pit to make adjustments for a final run. 

That opened up a chance for Logano to take the lead back, and he had it when Reed went into the wall to warrant the race's fourth caution with 29 laps to go. But again, Logano didn't have much time to enjoy it, as he was forced to hit the pit to repair a roof rail. 

He had to move to the back of the pack, which gave Elliott, a driver who had been outside of the top 15 for most of the race, the lead with 25 to go. 

The closer the race got to the checkered flag, the more emphasis was put on drafting, as trailing drivers behind Elliott found their partners to try to get around the leader. 

With a push from Brendan Gaughan, Dillon grabbed the lead with 16 laps to go, but Logano shot his way up to the front yet again on the outside and was challenging the drafting partners. 

Logano's ability to get to Dillon's quarter panel slowed down Gaughan's momentum and made the leader vulnerable. With 13 laps to go, Logano took the lead but was behind Poole at the race's fifth caution with 10 left due to debris on the track. 

The restart came with five laps left, and Poole decided to start on the high side instead of staying inside. That would normally result in losing the lead, and he did within a lap to Logano.

Desperate driving caused the race's final caution with three laps to go, prompting NASCAR's overtime format, which gave drivers one last attempt at one clean restart to race just one final lap. If not, the race would have ended under caution.

Logano, who was just a turn away from a win, finished up in 27th due to the final wreck, a tough way to end a tough day. 

Post-Race Reaction

The win meant the world to Sadler, who spoke with the media after the race via Lee Spencer of Motorsport.com:

Poole, who was so close to his first ever Xfinity Series win, stayed positive about the result, via Spencer:

It was an exciting finish, but it took its toll on Xfinity Series director Wayne Auton, via Spencer:

Sadler hadn't won a race in his last 65 attempts in the Xfinity Series, but this kind of win in such dramatic fashion on such a special day will certainly be a top highlight of his career. 

Despite his drought, Sadler was still in contention in the Xfinity Series points standings and this win puts him at the top with Suarez. With momentum gained from this win, Sadler can start building a lead in the points standings and this race could be looked at as the turning point. 

Stats courtesy of NASCAR.com.