The NASCAR Xfinity Series kicked off the 2021 season late Saturday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway in the Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner 300. Qualifying was canceled due to rain. The starting lineup was set by owner points, which put defending champion Austin Cindric on the pole and Justin Allgaier second.
Four laps into the race, the first caution came out when Alex Labbe’s No. 36 car got out of shape exiting off of turn four and spun out on his own. Labbe and Gragson went to pit road during the caution. The race resumed on lap eight and went three laps before the second caution was out as the No. 92 car of Josh Williams stalled on the backstretch. Williams was able to get his car going again to continue the race.
The racing resumed on the fifteenth lap with eight laps to go in stage one. On the final lap of stage one, Brandon Jones barely beat Riley Herbst by .004 seconds to win stage one. Jones earned ten points towards the playoffs. After teams went to pit road, the race got back underway on lap 37. The race was clean up until the final lap of stage two. While Brett Moffitt won stage two, a wreck occurred behind him. Brandon Jones came down on Myatt Snider, which sent Jones sliding into the wet grass and back up onto the asphalt where Cody Ware hit him before Jones’s car hit Alex Labbe. The race went to a red flag status that lasted over thirteen minutes.
While @Brett_Moffitt wins Stage 2, @BrandonJonesRac spins and collects @CodyShaneWare and @AlexLabbe36 coming across the line. #Beef300 pic.twitter.com/CTfkCMQce2 — NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) February 13, 2021
The final stage got underway on lap 66. Nine laps into the restart, another major wreck happened when some of the teams were coming to pit road. The incident started when the No. 1 car of Michael Annett was getting ready to come to pit road. The No. 13 of Chad Finchum could not check up fast enough and hit him. This took seven other cars out of contention. A total of nine cars were involved in the crash.
⚠️CAUTION⚠️: A group of contenders are collected in this lap 75 pileup at the beginning of green-flag pit stops. #Beef300 pic.twitter.com/j5CKEr3Ox0 — NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) February 13, 2021
The race resumed on lap 84, with Justin Haley leading the race. The race went seventeen laps before the seventh caution was due to another racing incident on the front stretch between the No. 90 of Caesar Bacarella and the No. 47 of Kyle Weatherman.
After some of the teams went to pit road, the race resumed on lap 103; however, the restart only lasted two laps before another big wreck took out more contenders. The accident started when Ty Dillon decided to get out of the bottom lane to pass from the middle lane. However, the pass was not made. When he tried to regain his position on the bottom, he hit Daniel Hemric. This caused Dillon to spin around sending cars scrambling to avoid the accident. Fourteen cars were involved in the crash. Some of the cars involved in the wreck were able to continue to the race.
⚠️CAUTION⚠️: A big chunk of the field is collected in a wreck that began with @tydillon making contact with teammate @DanielHemric! pic.twitter.com/qGUcI00Mda — NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) February 14, 2021
Once the cleanup was complete, the race resumed on lap 113. Once again, the restart lasted two laps before the tenth caution came out for another wreck on turn four. The accident started when the No. 4 of Landon Cassill tried to block the No. 10 of Jeb Burton before Burton turned him. As the other cars were trying to avoid the wreck, Jeremy Clements spun Tommy Joe Martins sending the race into overtime due to the cleanup that had to be done.
⚠️: Synchronized spinning from @landoncassill and @TommyJoeMartins brings out a caution that will lead us into #NASCAROvertime. pic.twitter.com/0jdTeprNA7 — NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) February 14, 2021
In overtime, Austin Cindric was out in front. He was fending off Harrison Burton on the inside before shifting to the outside lane when Brett Moffitt got a run. Cindric would win the race over Brett Moffitt by .104 seconds. There was a total of ten cautions throughout the race.
Take a look at the final lap that earned @AustinCindric the #Beef300 win at @DAYTONA! 🏁 pic.twitter.com/Fl4JatQJMH — NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) February 14, 2021
The rest of the top-ten finishers were Harrison Burton third, Jeb Burton fourth, AJ Allmendinger fifth, Brandon Brown sixth, Myatt Snider seventh, Brandon Gdovic eighth, Daniel Hemric ninth, and Jason White tenth.
The Xfinity Series will return to Daytona next Saturday, February 20th, to race the road course at 5 pm on FS1.
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