Austin Cindric Scores Talladega Win

Austin Cindric celebrates an exciting win following Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega. (Photo: Riley Thompson | The Podium Finish)

LINCOLN, Ala. — Austin Cindric had an experience at Talladega Superspeedway that likely rivaled the partygoers in the infield. Starting seventh, Cindric capitalized in Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500, capturing the checkered flag in his No. 2 Menards/Quaker State Ford Mustang Dark Horse.

The 26-year-old native of Mooresville, North Carolina, made his race day count to the fullest even when he was not in the picture in a frantic Stage 1. As the Team Penske driver took his time, a crash toward pit road entry on Lap 43 occurred when Kyle Busch tangled with Brad Keselowski, the latter colliding into Ryan Blaney. Busch continued on while Keselowski and Blaney rued over a lost afternoon.

On a Lap 52 restart, Denny Hamlin made slight contact with Christopher Bell, resulting in the latter collecting Chris Buescher in a hard crash into the backstretch retaining wall. Bell and Buescher’s day ended while Hamlin’s efforts proceeded without impediment.

This resulted in a wild scramble to the end of Stage 1 with Kyle Larson, starting 25th, taking the win ahead of William Byron, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chase Elliott and Bubba Wallace. However, Larson found himself restarting outside the top 30 in Stage 2 when he sped on pit road during the stage break pit stop cycle.

More fuel conservation was had with Trackhouse Racing teammates Ross Chastain and Daniel Suárez leading along with the likes of Byron, John Hunter Nemechek, Carson Hocevar, Anthony Alfredo and Joey Logano. Much like Stage 1, Larson returned toward the front, finishing second to Wallace, the Stage 2 winner, with Cindric placing third.

Once business picked up in Stage 3, the Toyota GAZOO Racing brigade made their presence known with Wallace, Chase Briscoe and Ty Gibbs mixing it up for the lead before the final pit stops of the race inside the final 30 laps.

Manufacturer allegiances played a pivotal role in the pit stop cycles with the Chevrolets opting to pit later to minimize their refueling while the Fords and Toyotas pitted en masse with their partners. With fuel mileage no longer a factor, competitors pondered their next moves in a rare Talladega race that went incident free save for stage break yellows.

Austin Cindric was a man who just could not lose in Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. (Photo: Riley Thompson | The Podium Finish)

Cindric roared to the lead on Lap 172, duking it out with Byron and Ryan Preece for the victory. Ironically, Cindric and Preece received hardy bump drafts from the Hendrick duo of Larson and Byron as they proceeded to the stripe past the dogleg.

Coming to the line, Cindric edged out Preece by 0.022 seconds with Larson unofficially placing third. Following post-race inspection, Preece and Logano were disqualified, promoting Larson from third to runner-up with Byron, Noah Gragson, Elliott, Hocevar, Alex Bowman, Wallace, Suárez and Austin Dillon finishing inside the top 10.

Preece was disqualified due to Rule 14.5.8.F. Spoiler (number of shims; had three shims instead of the required two). Likewise, Logano was disqualified due to Rule 14.5.8.E; Rule 14.1.P; Overall Assembled Vehicle Rules (missing a spoiler bolt).

Before passing post-race inspection, Cindric jubilantly celebrated his third career Cup win in front of the Talladega faithful.

“It takes everything and we’ve had it so many races here and you’ve got to have a little bit more,” Cindric said. “I’m just so proud of everybody on this race team. Team Penske, the entire shop deserves wins at these racetracks with how fast our race cars are and I’m just so proud to be able to win for John Menard and the Menards team – to get this yellow car in Victory Lane and get in the playoffs.”

Like the racing fans, Cindric pondered if the dreaded multi-car accident would happen toward the finish. On this occasion, the field avoided chaos, a change of pace for the largest superspeedway in NASCAR.

“You’re waiting for it to go wrong, but you’ve got to stay in the zone,” he observed. “There are so many times at the end I was just focused on the feedback Doug Campbell was giving me and what I knew about our car and maybe other cars I observed throughout the field today, so just an absolutely fantastic job by everybody involved.”

Larson, the runner-up, captured his career best result at a superspeedway track. Tallying the most points, the 2021 Cup champion mulled over the limited options he had to attempt a winning pass.

“There wasn’t really much I could do the final five laps,” Larson said. “I wanted to go to the outside lane when we got clear of William, but I felt like the gap was too big to move up and the No. 60 [Ryan Preece] was able to fill it.

“I was still happy to be second-row on the inside lane, obviously happy to be front row, but I just didn’t know how it was going to play out from there. There at the end, you’re just trying to give the right pushes to get clear and then maybe he starts blocking lanes and something would open up for me. I was just kind of jammed up there.”

Byron earned a Talladega podium and maintained his points lead over new second place runner Larson on an afternoon where the runs seemed disjoined on the outside lane.

“For whatever reason, the top lane just couldn’t get the runs off the corner at the right time to get connected,” Byron said. “We’d get connected too late and then get a little bit squirrely and lose our momentum. I wish just that one time, we could have connected a little better to stay even with the bottom lane, but we were working really hard to do that with the No. 2 (Cindric).”

Austin Cindric enjoys his Jack Link’s 500 victory at Talladega Superspeedway. (Photo: Riley Thompson | The Podium Finish)

Following the burnout and frontstretch interview on FOX NASCAR, Cindric did a rare type of celebration to savor that winning afterglow with the fans.

“I figured I’d do the full lap,” Cindric said. “Sometimes guys do the half lap, but you never know when you’re gonna win these races again. I’m not saying we can’t do it, but you’ve got to appreciate it and have a moment by myself there with the race car and prove how good we got that cycle down. It was really cool.”

Capturing the first Talladega victory for the No. 2 team since Keselowski’s 2021 triumph, Cindric planned to enjoy his latest feat with his hardy crew back in Mooresville, North Carolina.

“We’re gonna celebrate this one at the shop,” he revealed. “The guys really deserve it and I couldn’t be happier.”

Stage 1 Top 10 Finishers

1. Kyle Larson
2. William Byron
3. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
4. Chase Elliott
5. Bubba Wallace
6. Denny Hamlin
7. AJ Allmendinger
8. Cody Ware
9. Riley Herbst (R)
10. Ty Dillon

Stage 2 Top 10 Finishers

1. Bubba Wallace
2. Kyle Larson
3. Austin Cindric
4. Carson Hocevar
5. Tyler Reddick
6. Todd Gilliland
7. Zane Smith
8. Josh Berry
9. Justin Haley
10. AJ Allmendinger

Austin Cindric celebrates his Jack Link’s 500 win at Talladega Superspeedway with a yeti behind him. (Photo: Riley Thompson | The Podium Finish)

Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway Race Results