Austin Cindric wins at Daytona at the opening of the Xfinity season

(Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

Austin Cindric opened his title defense in strong fashion in a crash-filled NASCAR Xfinity Series season opener Saturday evening, outrunning Brett Moffitt for an overtime victory at Daytona International Speedway.

Cindric led 28 of the 122 laps, keeping his Team Penske No. 22 out front by .104 seconds at the checkered flag of the Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner 300. His ninth triumph of his Xfinity Series career was his first at the 2.5-mile Daytona track. Moffitt held on for second place, his career-best in the Xfinity Series. Cousins Harrison and Jeb Burton grabbed third and fourth, respectively with AJ Allmendinger finishing out the top five. A handful of multi-car crashes thinned the field of several contenders. One of the most costly was a 14-car stack-up with 16 laps remaining, triggered by close racing between new Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Ty Dillon and Daniel Hemric. JR Motorsports teammates Justin Allgaier and Josh Berry were among those eliminated, as was superspeedway expert Justin Haley. Brandon Jones prevailed in Stage 1, edging Riley Herbst by .004 seconds at the green-checkered flag, but his fortunes took a downturn at the end of Stage 2 on Lap 60, the race’s halfway point. As Moffitt scored the stage victory for Our Motorsports, Jones’ No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota skidded into the damp infield grass after contact with Myatt Snider’s No. 2 Chevrolet. Jones’ car slid back up the track, collecting entries for Cody Ware and Alex Labbe in its wake. That produced a red flag that lasted 13 minutes, 47 seconds for clean-up. A larger wreck slowed the action on Lap 75 as Michael Annett’s No. 1 JR Motorsport Chevrolet was turned sideways in a sizable pack. Teammate Noah Gragson, last year’s winner in the Xfinity opener, was among those involved, as were Gray Gaulding, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Colby Howard, Ryan Vargas, Ryan Sieg and Bayley Currey. The Xfinity Series’ next race is scheduled next Saturday, Feb. 20 (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) on Daytona’s 3.61-mile oval and road course layout.

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Race Results:

#	Car	Driver	Sponsors (Team)
1	22	Austin Cindric	Verizon 5G   (Roger Penske)
2	02	Brett Moffitt	FR8 Auctions   (Chris Our)
3	20	Harrison Burton	Dex Imaging   (Joe Gibbs)
4	10	Jeb Burton	Nutrien Ag Solutions   (Matthew Kaulig)
5	16	A.J. Allmendinger	Ellsworth Advisors   (Matthew Kaulig)
6	68	Brandon Brown	Original Larry's Hard Lemonade   (Jerry Brown)
7	2	Myatt Snider	Tax Slayer   (Richard Childress)
8	26	Brandon Gdovic	Toyota Racing   (Sam Hunt)
9	18	Daniel Hemric	Poppy Bank   (Joe Gibbs)
10	23	Jason White	A-Game Energy   (Rod Sieg)
11	07	Joe Graf, Jr.	Bucked Up Energy   (Bobby Dotter)
12	90	Caesar Bacarella	AP Sport Regimen   (Mario Gosselin)
13	99	Stefan Parsons	Sokal Digital   (B.J. McLeod)
14	54	Ty Dillon	Bass Pro Shops   (Joe Gibbs)
15	47	Kyle Weatherman	Axe Crossbows   (Mike Harmon)
16	5	Matt Mills	J.F. Electric   (B.J. McLeod)
17	78	Jesse Little	Shriners Hospitals 4 Children   (B.J. McLeod)
18	6	Ryan Vargas	Swann Communications   (Johnny Davis)
19	48	Danny Bohn	North American Motor Car   (Scott Borchetta)
20	66	Timmy Hill	VSI Racing   (Carl Long)
21	92	Josh Williams	Alloy Employer / Sleep Well   (Mario Gosselin)
22	51	Jeremy Clements	All South Electric   (Jeremy Clements)
23	4	Landon Cassill	Blue Emu   (Johnny Davis)
24	44	Tommy Joe Martins	AAN Adjusters   (Tommy Joe Martins)
25	61	Robby Lyons	CSM Masonry   (Shigeaki Hattori)
26	98	Riley Herbst	Monster Energy   (Fred Biagi)
27	8	Josh Berry	Filter Time   (JR Motorsports)
28	7	Justin Allgaier	Brandt   (JR Motorsports)
29	11	Justin Haley	Leaf Filter Gutter Protection   (Matthew Kaulig)
30	13	Chad Finchum	Ted Russell Ford Lincoln   (Carl Long)
31	39	Ryan Sieg	CMR Construction & Roofing   (Rod Sieg)
32	9	Noah Gragson	Bass Pro Shops True Timber / BRCC   (JR Motorsports)
33	74	Bayley Currey	Running 4 Heroes   (Mike Harmon)
34	52	Gray Gaulding	Panini America   (Jimmy Means)
35	15	Colby Howard	Linder / Project Hope Foundation   (Johnny Davis)
36	1	Michael Annett	PFJ / American Heart Association   (JR Motorsports)
37	0	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Forever Lawn   (Johnny Davis)
38	19	Brandon Jones	Menards / Jeld-Wen   (Joe Gibbs)
39	17	Cody Ware	Jacob Companies   (Rick Ware)
40	36	Alex Labbe	Larue Industrial Snow Blowers   (Mario Gosselin)