TALLADEGA, Ala. – Spencer Gallagher called his top-five finish at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway a watershed moment for GMS Racing, but that was nothing compared to his emotions at the end of Saturday’s Sparks Energy 300.

Gallagher led only one lap at Talladega Superspeedway – the final one – to take his first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory in a thrilling overtime finish. The 28-year-old Las Vegas native hustled past both Christopher Bell and leader Tyler Reddick on the final lap and then held Brandon Jones at bay to the line.

In an emotional victory lane celebration Gallagher put his joy on full display as he soaked in the enormity of what he accomplished – officially locking into the playoffs and putting himself in position to battle for the Xfinity Dash 4 Cash bonus next week at Dover Int’l Speedway.

“The only thing that was going through my mind was ‘I hope to hell this works,’” said Gallagher, who started third. “Gosh, I’m so happy right now. GMS Racing brought such an incredible car here. To qualify this thing third and to race like we did all day … I knew we had some speed.

“It didn’t seem real for a while there. For that whole last lap it was kind of a dream. You hear your spotter talking to you in the background, but all you’re really doing is looking in your mirror. It’s always wild, the last lap at Talladega, but we brought it home, baby! We got it done … and we’re gonna go home and party like it’s 1999!”

After Daniel Hemric and Elliott Sadler won the first two stages, racing in the final stage kicked off on lap 57 with Bell spinning the tires on the inside lane and Sadler jumping out to the lead.

Following a quick yellow on lap 62 for a spinning Austin Cindric, the action went calm and Sadler led uncontested until making his final pit stop with 38 to go. He turned the lead over to Justin Allgaier at that point, but copped a speeding penalty after John Hunter Nemechek spun entering pit road and Sadler sped up trying to avoid him.

Allgaier was on a fuel-saving strategy and managed to pick up a draft from a pack of cars on the tail end of the lead lap, building a massive 25-second lead over Cindric, Garrett Smithley and Vinnie Miller as the laps ticked off.

Matt Tifft shredded a right-front tire with 17 laps remaining, but the caution flag didn’t waved at that point. However, polesitter Daniel Hemric lost a right-front tire with nine laps left, spewing debris on the track and leaving officials no choice but to call for a caution.

During the caution period Allgaier ran out of fuel and gave up the lead with four laps left. That turned the lead over to Cindric, who also ran out of fuel as the field came to the green flag for the restart.

That left Daytona winner Reddick leading the field into turn one, and though Reddick held the lead at the white flag, he was no match for Gallagher’s surging run entering turn one on the final lap.

Brandon Jones came through to end as the runner-up, his best finish in 80 Xfinity Series starts.

“We can’t be disappointed with second at this place, you know how these races can go sometimes with us. I wasn’t thinking second was going to be it, though,” admitted Jones. “I had to start to pull really hard and I was working the side draft because I knew I’d been pretty weak on that all day.

“I knew I had to get pretty aggressive … and that lane started forming on the bottom some more. I took a chance on that middle lane working too and it just happened for us. All in all, I’m happy with second place and we’re going to go on to Dover and race for a hundred grand.”

Allgaier, Noah Gragson and Elliott Sadler – who claimed the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash check as the highest finisher among the four eligible drivers – completed the top five at the checkered flag.

Sadler will be joined by Gallagher, Jones and Allgaier in the race for the final bonus check at Dover Int’l Speedway next weekend.