Austin Cindric Wins Talladega Cup Race by Inches

Team Penske Photo

TALLADEGA, AL – RIS - Austin Cindric won at Talladega Superspeedway in a photo finish on Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race at the 2.66-mile track. In a close clean photo finish. Austin Cindric and Ryan Preece drag-raced to the line with a pair of Hendrick cars pushing them, but it was Cindric who edged ahead at the finish line in a thrilling photo finish. The Ford driver also had the help of a draft from two lapped cars on the inside line, right in front of him.

"I'm just so proud of this team," said an excited Cindric. "From the cycles to the fast cars to the fuel-only stops. Doug -- my spotter, everybody. I've been trying for three, four years now to get a Cup win for John Menard and Menard's. That bright yellow car looks good out front. I'm just so thankful for everyone's support. The Ford Performance, Roush Yates engine package at these types of racetracks are second to none. We talk about in every single one of these meetings why we haven't won one of these races. Just really proud of this effort."

Speaking on the run to the finish, he said: "Definitely wasn't easy. I give a lot of credit. Kyle [Larson] did a lot to take care of me, pushing me at the right times in the tri-oval. As mad as I was at him after Atlanta (when Larson wrecked Cindric in the battle for the lead), I feel like we're good now. That was great too have a photo finish at Talladega, to be able to get into the playoffs, (and to do it) in front of this amazing crowd on a beautiful day in Alabama."

Cindric now has three wins in the Cup Series and, just like last year, he is the first of the three Team Penske cars to reach Victory Lane. His other victories at the Cup level came at Gateway in 2024 and in the 2022 Daytona 500. Cindric is now the sixth different driver to win this year, and he was 22nd in the championship standings before this critical victory.

Finishing second was Ryan Preece. Preece, who scored a career-best finish of second. Despite the relatively clean race, Preece was the only RFK driver left in the running after both of his teammates [Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski] fell out of the event due to earlier incidents. Preece has never won at the Cup level in nearly 200 starts, but 2025 is shaping up to be the best year of his career.
Kyle Larson won the opening stage and finished third in what now stands as his best result at Talladega. William Byron finished fourth and Joey Logano fifth. Noah Gragson, Chase Elliott, Carson Hocevar, Alex Bowman, and Stage 2 winner Bubba Wallace filled out the remainder of the top ten.

Though the race did not resemble prior races at the tracks and at Daytona, it’s sister track, it was mostly clean.
Early on. Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney were eliminated in a crash at pit entry during Stage 1, which also collected Kyle Busch. Soon after, Christopher Bell and Chris Buescher wrecked from the lead after a bad bump on a restart.
Even if there were 67 lead changes and 23 leaders over the course of the race, the Big One didn't happen, setting up a final sprint to the finish. There were only four cautions the entire race, two of which were for stage endings, a remarkably "clean" Talladega outing.

The opening stages were as routine as Talladega gets; although the field ran as much as four-wide, the mistakes were few. Larson ended up winning the first stage, and Bubba Wallace the second.
The Cup drivers now head for Texas Motor Speedway next week.

Unofficial Results: Jack Link's 500, April 27, 2025 - Talladega Superspeedway
Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 7, Austin Cindric, No. 2 Menards/Quaker State Ford, 188, , 4, 5, 7, 5, 47, Running
2) 4, Ryan Preece, No. 60 Kroger/Celsius Ford, 188, , 6, 4, 6, , 40, Running
3) 25, Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, 188, 1, 3, 1, 3, 1, 52, Running
4) 16, William Byron, No. 24 Valvoline Chevrolet, 188, 2, , 3, 10, , 42, Running
5) 3, Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 188, , 2, 6, 24, , 41, Running
6) 27, Noah Gragson, No. 4 Rural King Ford, 188, , , , , , 31, Running
7) 30, Chase Elliott, No. 9 Amazon Prime Video Chevrolet, 188, 4, , 1, 1, , 37, Running
8) 28, Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Chili's Ride the 'Dente Chevrolet, 188, , 5, 3, 3, , 35, Running
9) 18, Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 188, , , , , , 28, Running
10) 20, Bubba Wallace, No. 23 Leidos Toyota, 188, 5, 1, 3, 5, 1, 43, Running
11) 24, Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Wendy's Frosty Chevrolet, 188, , , 2, 2, , 26, Running
12) 5, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Winchester Chevrolet, 188, , , , , , 25, Running
13) 14, Michael McDowell, No. 71 GUNK Chevrolet, 188, , , 5, 10, , 25, Running
14) 35, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 NOS Energy Chevrolet, 188, 3, , , , , 31, Running
15) 12, Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas/Andy's Ford, 188, , , 1, 2, , 22, Running
16) 26, Tyler Reddick, No. 45 Xfinity Mobile Toyota, 188, , 7, , , , 25, Running
17) 17, Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, 188, , , 3, 20, , 20, Running
18) 15, Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Love's Travel Stops Ford, 188, , 8, , , , 22, Running
19) 10, Ty Gibbs, No. 54 SAIA LTL Freight Toyota, 188, , , 2, 32, , 18, Running
20) 34, Erik Jones, No. 43 Massey Motor Freight Toyota, 188, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 1, Zane Smith, No. 38 TitleMax Ford, 188, , 9, 3, 5, , 18, Running
22) 32, Ross Chastain, No. 1 Jockey Chevrolet, 188, , , 6, 11, , 15, Running
23) 13, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Progressive Toyota, 188, 6, , 1, 7, , 19, Running
24) 23, Riley Herbst #, No. 35 Monster Energy Toyota, 188, 9, , , , , 15, Running
25) 21, Ty Dillon, No. 10 Sea Best Chevrolet, 188, 10, , 1, 1, , 13, Running
26) 19, AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Grizzly Nicotine Pouches Chevrolet, 188, 7, , , , , 15, Running
27) 37, Justin Haley, No. 7 Gainbridge Chevrolet, 188, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 8, Josh Berry, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford, 188, , 10, 6, 12, , 10, Running
29) 2, Kyle Busch, No. 8 Nicokick Chevrolet, 188, , , 1, 3, , 8, Running
30) 31, Anthony Alfredo *(i), No. 62 Fortify Building Solutions Chevrolet, 188, , , 7, 19, , 0, Running
31) 36, Shane Van Gisbergen #, No. 88 Safety Culture Chevrolet, 187, , , , , , 6, Running
32) 29, John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Jack Link's Toyota, 187, , , 1, 1, , 5, Running
33) 33, Cody Ware, No. 51 Arby's x AC Barbecue Sauce Ford, 186, 8, , , , , 7, Running
34) 39, JJ Yeley *, No. 44 Barnett Southern Corporation Chevrolet, 186, , , 2, 2, , 3, Running
35) 38, BJ McLeod *, No. 78 Pigeon Forge Racing Coaster Chevrolet, 71, , , , , , 0, Overheating
36) 6, Chris Buescher, No. 17 Travel Centers of America Ford, 51, , , 1, 2, , 1, Accident
37) 11, Christopher Bell, No. 20 Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota, 51, , , , , , 1, Accident
38) 22, Brad Keselowski, No. 6 BuildSubmarines.com Ford, 42, , , , , , 1, Accident
39) 9, Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford, 42, , , , , , 1, Accident
(i) Ineligible for driver points, (#) Rookie

Race Length: 188 Laps, 500.08 Miles
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 10 Mins, 52 Secs.
Average Speed: 157.203 MPH
Margin of Victory: .022 Seconds

Fastest Lap Bonus: No. 71, lap 120, 47.896 sec

Stage 1 Top 10: 5, 24, 47, 9, 23, 11, 16, 51, 35, 10
Stage 2 Top 10: 23, 22, 5, 2, 77, 60, 45, 34, 38, 21

Comments: Austin Cindric won the Jack Link's 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, his third victory in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Prior to the start, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reason(s) indicated: No. 44 (Unapproved Adjustments).

Cautions: 4 for 22 laps;
Laps: 44-51 (No. 12, 6, 8, 17, 48 incident frontstretch [None]);
53-56 (No 11, 20, 17 incident backstretch [8]);
62-66 (Stage 1 Conclusion [None]);
122-126 (Stage 2 Conclusion [99]).

Lead Changes: 67 among 23 drivers;
Z. Smith 1-3;
J. Berry 4;
J. Logano 5;
M. McDowell 6-7;
J. Berry 8;
M. McDowell 9-10;
Z. Smith 11;
J. Berry 12-14;
R. Preece 15;
M. McDowell 16;
R. Preece 17;
M. McDowell 18-20;
Z. Smith 21;
J. Berry 22;
K. Busch 23-25;
C. Briscoe 26-40;
C. Custer 41-42;
J. Logano 43-48;
D. Suarez 49;
C. Buescher 50-51;
D. Hamlin 52-58;
B. Wallace 59;
K. Larson 60-62;
C. Hocevar 63;
JJ. Yeley 64;
A. Alfredo(i) 65;
W. Byron 66-69;
A. Alfredo(i) 70-73;
R. Chastain 74;
J. Nemechek 75;
A. Alfredo(i) 76;
R. Chastain 77-80;
A. Alfredo(i) 81;
R. Chastain 82-83;
A. Alfredo(i) 84-85;
R. Chastain 86;
D. Suarez 87;
A. Alfredo(i) 88-93;
R. Chastain 94-95;
A. Alfredo(i) 96-99;
R. Chastain 100;
J. Logano 101-108;
C. Hocevar 109;
J. Logano 110;
B. Wallace 111;
M. McDowell 112-113;
C. Hocevar 114;
J. Logano 115-119;
B. Wallace 120-122;
JJ. Yeley 123;
C. Elliott 124;
C. Briscoe 125-127;
T. Gibbs 128;
C. Briscoe 129-130;
T. Gibbs 131-161;
J. Logano 162-164;
J. Berry 165-166;
T. Dillon 167;
J. Berry 168-171;
A. Cindric 172-174;
W. Byron 175;
A. Cindric 176;
W. Byron 177-181;
A. Cindric 182;
R. Preece 183-185;
A. Cindric 186;
R. Preece 187;
A. Cindric 188.

Unofficial Points: Jack Link's 500, Talladega Superspeedway
Rank, Driver, Car, Starts, GL, Points, Ldr, Nxt, Race Wins, Stage Wins, Playoff Pts
1) William Byron, 24, 10, 0, 388, 0, 0, 1, 3, 8
2) Kyle Larson, 5, 10, -2, 356, -32, 32, 2, 5, 15
3) Denny Hamlin, 11, 10, 1, 335, -53, 21, 2, 2, 12
4) Chase Elliott, 9, 10, -1, 315, -73, 20, 0, 0, 0
5) Christopher Bell, 20, 10, 2, 306, -82, 9, 3, 1, 16
6) Tyler Reddick, 45, 10, -1, 299, -89, 7, 0, 0, 0
7) Bubba Wallace, 23, 10, -1, 294, -94, 5, 0, 2, 2
8) Joey Logano, 22, 10, -1, 286, -102, 8, 0, 2, 2
9) Ryan Blaney, 12, 10, 3, 276, -112, 10, 0, 2, 2
10) Alex Bowman, 48, 10, 0, 272, -116, 4, 0, 0, 0
11) Ross Chastain, 1, 10, 0, 244, -144, 28, 0, 0, 0
12) Ryan Preece, 60, 10, -2, 241, -147, 3, 0, 1, 1
13) Chase Briscoe, 19, 10, 0, 233, -155, 8, 0, 0, 0
14) Chris Buescher, 17, 10, 2, 228, -160, 5, 0, 0, 0
15) Austin Cindric, 2, 10, -7, 218, -170, 10, 1, 1, 6
16) AJ Allmendinger, 16, 10, 0, 213, -175, 5, 0, 0, 0
17) Kyle Busch, 8, 10, 2, 208, -180, 5, 0, 0, 0
18) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, 47, 10, 0, 207, -181, 1, 0, 0, 0
19) Michael McDowell, 71, 10, 0, 199, -189, 8, 0, 0, 0
20) Carson Hocevar, 77, 10, -5, 192, -196, 7, 0, 0, 0
21) Josh Berry, 21, 10, 4, 189, -199, 3, 1, 1, 6
22) Ty Gibbs, 54, 10, 2, 189, -199, 0, 0, 0, 0
23) Austin Dillon, 3, 10, -3, 180, -208, 9, 0, 0, 0
24) Zane Smith, 38, 10, 0, 179, -209, 1, 0, 0, 0
25) Daniel Suarez, 99, 10, -2, 177, -211, 2, 0, 0, 0
26) John Hunter Nemechek, 42, 10, 5, 176, -212, 1, 0, 0, 0
27) Justin Haley, 7, 10, 4, 174, -214, 2, 0, 0, 0
28) Todd Gilliland, 34, 10, 0, 172, -216, 2, 0, 0, 0
29) Ty Dillon, 10, 10, 0, 159, -229, 13, 0, 0, 0
30) Erik Jones, 43, 10, 0, 156, -232, 3, 0, 0, 0
31) Noah Gragson, 4, 10, -1, 153, -235, 3, 0, 0, 0
32) Brad Keselowski, 6, 10, 1, 133, -255, 20, 0, 0, 0
33) Riley Herbst #, 35, 10, 0, 116, -272, 17, 0, 0, 0
34) Cole Custer, 41, 10, -1, 107, -281, 9, 0, 0, 0
35) Shane Van Gisbergen #, 88, 10, 1, 104, -284, 3, 0, 0, 0
36) Cody Ware, 51, 10, 0, 52, -336, 52, 0, 0, 0
37) Jimmie Johnson, , 1, 0, 34, -354, 18, 0, 0, 0
38) Corey Lajoie, , 3, 0, 24, -364, 10, 0, 0, 0
39) Katherine Legge, , 1, 0, 7, -381, 17, 0, 0, 0
40) * JJ Yeley, 44, 4, 0, 7, -381, 0, 0, 0, 0
41) Casey Mears, , 1, 0, 2, -386, 5, 0, 0, 0
42) Burt Myers, , 1, 0, 1, -387, 1, 0, 0, 0
43) Martin Truex, Jr, , 1, 0, 1, -387, 0, 0, 0, 0
44) Justin Allgaier(i), , 1, 0, 0, -388, 1, 0, 0, 0
45) * BJ McLeod(i), 78, 2, 0, 0, -388, 0, 0, 0, 0
46) * Anthony Alfredo(i), 62, 1, -4, 0, -388, 0, 0, 0, 0
47) Austin Hill(i), , 1, 1, 0, -388, 0, 0, 0, 0
48) Jesse Love(i), , 1, 1, 0, -388, 0, 0, 0, 0
49) Connor Zilisch(i), , 1, 1, 0, -388, 0, 0, 0, 0
50) Josh Bilicki(i), , 1, 2, 0, -388, 0, 0, 0, 0
51) Chandler Smith(i), , 0, 1, 0, -388, 0, 0, 0, 0
52) Helio Castroneves, , 1, -2, 0, -388, 0, 0, 0, 0