Austin Cindric’s crew put him in position to win Sunday. He just had to do the rest.
The Team Penske driver did just that by holding off Ryan Preece down the stretch to win the Jack Link’s 500 as the NASCAR Cup Series returned to action after a bye week on Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Ala.
The Fords of Cindric and Preece ran 1-2 side-by-side in front of the Chevrolets of William Byron and Kyle Larson with 17 laps to go. The pair raced tight but clean off Turn 4 for the final time, with Cindric’s No. 2 edging Preece’s No. 60 by 0.022 seconds for his third career win in his 125th start.
Though he crossed the line in a career-best second place, Preece was disqualified from the race hours later, as was fifth-place finisher Joey Logano.
NASCAR found both cars to have violated spoiler specifications, sending Preece to 38th place and Logano to 39th, last in the field. The drivers earned only one point in the championship standings, instead of 40 points for Preece and 41 for Logano.
On the day’s final pit stop, Cindric’s crew turned in the quickest service on the No. 2, which gridded 25th as it hit pit road.
“I’m just so proud of this team, from the cycles to the fast cars to the fueling stops,” said Cindric, who won for the first time since Gateway last June. “I give a lot of credit to Kyle (Larson). He 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, I feel like we’re good now.
“That was great: Having a photo-finish at Talladega, to be able to do it and get into the playoffs.”
Preece felt he needed more of a push at the end.
“I needed that little bit like when you’re in a go-cart to get by Austin,” the RFK Racing driver before the disqualification. “I’m happy, but as a racer, you want to win.”
The victory was just Ford’s third in the past 10 Talladega events.
With the disqualifications, Larson and Byron moved up to second and third, respectively. Noah Gragson and Chase Elliott jumped into the top 5.
Polesitter Zane Smith officially finished 19th. Ryan Blaney, the 2023 series champion, wrecked out in the first caution and was 37th with his fourth DNF this season.
After Smith led them to green following his first career pole qualifying spot, his No. 38 Ford was quickly under attack for the lead by Austin Dillon, Michael McDowell and Kyle Busch.
However, the Toyota contingent soon formed on the top line of the 2.66-mile superspeedway and blew past the Fords and Chevys toward the front in the 60-lap Stage 1.
Two laps after pitting, Busch and Brad Keselowski wrecked coming toward pit road. Three-time Talladega winner Blaney and Alex Bowman also received damage.
With 10 laps to go in the segment, there was more trouble after Christopher Bell and Chris Buescher spun down to the apron while running side by side on the front row. Bell’s No. 20 crashed into the inside wall in the 188-lap race’s hardest hit.
In a four-car bowtie brigade, Larson recorded his first Talladega stage win, though he was soon sent to the back for speeding on pit road. The Chevys of Byron, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Elliott took the next three spots.
Bubba Wallace maxed the bonus points by holding off Logano and Larson, who overcame his speeding infraction, to win Stage 2. Cindric was fourth.
With 50 laps to go, five Toyotas led five Fords and two Chevrolets as the manufacturers teamed up and went two-wide instead of three abreast.
–Field Level Media
