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It had been 65 races since wiley veteran Elliott Sadler was able to celebrate in a Xfinity series victory lane but following the dramatics of Saturday's overtime period Sadler is a victor once again at Talladega Superspeedway. 

Running second exiting turn four on the race's final lap, Sadler played the restrictor plate game to the tee by jumping out of line at the final moment or as Ricky Bobby said in the infamous movie Talladega Nights, "slingshot engage". By jumping out from behind then race leader Joey Logano he forced Logano to attempt an ill-fated block on Sadler's No. 1 OneMain Financial Chevrolet.

At first glance it appeared third place finisher Brennan Poole was the winner because he did cross the line first. However, NASCAR ruled at the time of the caution the spinning Sadler was leading the race and after lengthy discussion, Sadler was given the checkered flag and the okay to celebrate. 

Sadler, who was celebrating his 41st birthday Saturday, was appreciative to have his newfound JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier in close proximity.

"I was very fortunate that I had Justin Allgaier behind me," Sadler said. "He restarted fifth on the restart and I knew he would stay with me until we got to the tri-oval then we could make whatever moves we needed to make to try and win the race. So I felt like I could be aggressive and kind of make a strong move on Joey (Logano)."

The often humble Sadler gave himself a pat on the back for his save in the race's final turmoil.

"There's a lot of races where I probably have not done a good job as a driver but I felt like saving that car today through the grass was kind of crazy," Sadler explained. "Yeah, there was a little bit of luck but I was wheeling inside of it, too."

After crashing head first into the outer SAFER barrier then getting hit by another passing car, Logano emerged from his 27th place finishing vehicle in what appeared to be good health.

Sadler's teammate and draft-mate Justin Allgaier took home the runner-up finish while Brennan Poole, who many thought had taken the chaotic victory, was declared the race's third place finisher. 

Although Poole would have much preferred to grab his first Xfinity series race win on Saturday the driver of the No. 48 DC Solar Chevrolet believed the rightful winner was given his due.

"I'm glad they were able to take the time to get it right," Poole said. "I'm happy that the rightful winner is taking the trophy home tonight   -- I wish it was us but we were close. Our car was really good all day. It was just fun racing up there with everybody."

Xfinity series regular Jeremy Clements left with a career-best fourth place finish. Brendan Gaughan finished in fifth place followed by Austin Dillon, Daniel Suarez, Matt Tifft, Chase Elliott and Aric Almirola rounding out the race's top-ten finishers.

The Xfinity series takes a week off next weekend for Mother's Day but will be back in action at the "Monster Mile" of Dover International Speedway on Saturday, May 7th. 

NASCAR XFINITY Series Race Number 9
Unofficial Race Results for the 25Th Annual Sparks Energy 300 - Saturday, April 30, 2016
Talladega Superspeedway - Talladega, AL - 2.66 Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 116 Laps - 308.56 Miles

Leader
Fin    Str    Car    Driver    Team    Laps    Pts    Bns    Driver Rating    Status    Tms    Laps
1    9    1    Elliott Sadler    OneMain Chevrolet    116    44    4    121.4    Running    1    1
2    18    7    Justin Allgaier    Breyers Chevrolet    116    39        102.9    Running        
3    11    48    Brennan Poole #    DC Solar Chevrolet    116    38    1    100.3    Running    1    5
4    34    51    Jeremy Clements    Kevin Whitaker Chevrolet/BRT Extrusions Chevrolet    116    37    1    83.4    Running    1    7
5    6    62    Brendan Gaughan    South Point Chevrolet    116    36    1    84.5    Running    1    1
6    3    2    Austin Dillon(i)    Rheem Chevrolet    116    0        117.5    Running    3    7
7    2    19    Daniel Suarez    ARRIS Toyota    116    35    1    98.1    Running    1    2
8    1    18    Matt Tifft(i)    NOS Energy Drink Toyota    116    0        119.1    Running    3    21
9    14    88    Chase Elliott(i)    Armour Vienna Sausage Chevrolet    116    0        88.5    Running    2    7
10    17    98    Aric Almirola(i)    Fresh From Florida Ford    116    0        83.0    Running        
11    20    42    Justin Marks    Katerra Chevrolet    116    30        82.1    Running        
12    35    0    Garrett Smithley #    Instalco Chevrolet    116    29        63.2    Running        
13    15    6    Darrell Wallace Jr    Kleen Perfomance Ford    116    28        77.0    Running        
14    19    14    Benny Gordon    VSI Racing Toyota    116    27        77.7    Running        
15    26    01    Ryan Preece #    GK Services Chevrolet    116    26        64.9    Running        
16    29    4    Ross Chastain    Flex Seal Chevrolet    116    25        71.1    Running        
17    12    43    Jeb Burton    J. Streicher Ford    116    24        78.7    Running        
18    16    33    Brandon Jones #    Okuma Chevrolet    116    23    1    80.5    Running    1    36
19    5    3    Ty Dillon    Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet    116    22        94.0    Running        
20    38    39    Ryan Sieg    Spark Energy Chevrolet    116    21        83.9    Running        
21    4    20    Erik Jones #    GameStop Toyota    116    20        69.4    Running        
22    10    44    JJ Yeley    Zachry Toyota    116    19        92.0    Running        
23    21    24    Brandon McReynolds    Redneck Riviera/JGL Young Guns Toyota    116    18        65.0    Running        
24    13    11    Blake Koch    LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet    116    18    1    69.2    Running    1    1
25    40    15    Travis Kvapil(i)    Lilly Trucking/CarPortEmpire.com Ford    116    0        46.7    Running        
26    24    05    John Wes Townley(i)    Jive Communications Chevrolet    116    0        58.9    Running        
27    8    22    Joey Logano(i)    Discount Tire Ford    115    0        92.5    Running    4    19
28    25    90    Mario Gosselin    BuckedUp Apparel/David Johnson?s Auto Chevrolet    115    13        41.0    Running        
29    28    07    Ray Black Jr #    Scuba Life Chevrolet    115    12        47.7    Running        
30    31    40    Carl Long    Phoenix Air/Schaeffer?s Racing Oil Dodge    115    11        38.8    Running        
31    7    16    Ryan Reed    Lilly Diabetes/American Diabetes Association Ford    113    11    1    78.5    Running    1    8
32    32    13    John Jackson    FLWaterFront/ICard Merrill/Chris Kyle Fdn Toyota    112    9        37.7    Running        
33    33    85    Bobby Gerhart    Lucas Oil Chevrolet    111    8        31.7    Running        
34    22    28    Dakoda Armstrong    WinField Be Greater Toyota    82    7        31.8    Electrical        
35    36    97    Ryan Ellis    VroomBrands Chevrolet    81    6        32.2    Engine        
36    39    78    BJ McLeod #    Triple R Containers LLC Ford    39    5        33.5    Engine        
37    30    25    Chris Cockrum    Advanced Communications Group Chevrolet    30    4        42.9    Accident        
38    37    52    Joey Gase    Spark Energy/Donate Life Alabama Chevrolet    30    3        34.5    Accident        
39    23    89    Morgan Shepherd     Chevrolet    27    3    1    35.3    Rear Gear    1    1
40    27    10    Jeff Green     Toyota    2    1        23.2    Suspension        
 Race Comments:    Elliott Sadler won the Sparks Energy 300 at Talladega Superspeedway, his 11th career NASCAR XFINITY Series victory. Prior to the start of the race, the following cars dropped to the rear of the field for the reason indicated: No. 88 (missing driver intros), No. 85 (missing drivers meeting).
 Failed to Qualify:    (3) 93 Josh Reaume, 70 Derrike Cope, 74 Mike Harmon.
 Time of Race:    02 Hrs, 19 Mins, 45 Secs.    Average Speed:    132.477 MPH    Margin of Victory:    Caution
 Caution Flags:    6 for 29 laps: Laps: 22-25 (Competition [62]); 32-36 (#25, 52 Accident Backstretch [98]); 41-47 (Fluid On Track From #78 [15]); 85-89 (#16, 20 Accident Frontstretch [15]); 105-108 (Debris Frontstretch [14]); 111-114 (#43, 20 Accident Frontstretch [05]).
 Lead Changes:    9 among 8 drivers: M. Tifft(i) 0; D. Suarez 1-2; M. Tifft(i) 3-21; B. Koch 22; M. Shepherd 23; M. Tifft(i) 24-25; A. Dillon(i) 26-27; R. Reed 28-35; J. Logano(i) 36-115; E. Sadler 116; 
Top 10 Driver Points:     (1) E. Sadler 314;(2) D. Suarez 314;(3) T. Dillon 282;(4) J. Allgaier 280;(5) B. Gaughan 278;(6) B. Jones # 272;(7) E. Jones # 264;(8) B. Poole # 250;(9) D. Wallace Jr 229;(10) R. Reed 221.
Coors Light Pole Award    : Matt Tifft, #18 181.168 mph    Mahle Clevite Engine Builder of the Race    : Hendrick Engines, #1 
Mobil 1 Driver of the Race    : Jeremy Clements, #51     Sunoco Rookie of the Race    : Brennan Poole, #48 
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race:    May. 14, 2016 - Dover International Speedway