At Talladega Superspeedway, where the laws of physics are treated more like suggestions and chaos is usually the main event, the unthinkable happened Sunday: a race with no Big One, and a finish that was somehow decided by brains, bravery, and a blisteringly fast pit stop.
In a world where winning often depends on being the last car not upside-down on fire, it was Austin Cindric — son of a racing dynasty, occasional victim of bad luck, and full-time nice guy — who pulled off a miracle.
And he did it with fuel. Just fuel.
With 24 laps to go, Cindric’s Team Penske crew yanked him onto pit road, splashed in a few gallons of go-juice in a surgical 3.2 seconds, and sent him back out into the pack. It turned out to be the winning move.
Because while the rest of the field spent the final laps balancing aggression with dread, Cindric was just close enough, just fast enough, and — critically — just fueled enough to edge Ryan Preece by an eye-watering .022 seconds in a photo finish.
“You’re waiting for it to go wrong, but you’ve got to stay in the zone,” Cindric said. “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.”
It was a race that, for once, didn’t end with 17 cars in a smoldering heap. There were crashes, sure — Talladega has a contractual obligation to wreck at least somebody — but they were early, and they were manageable. It also ended with disqualifications for another Ford and for a fellow Penske teammate that happened long after the crowd had left the grandstands.
First came the Lap 44 pile-up during green flag stops when Brad Keselowski slowed to pit, Kyle Busch clipped him, and Ryan Blaney’s DNF luck continued with a thud into the infield.
Then came the restart mess, when Denny Hamlin gave his teammate Christopher Bell a shove that was less “helpful push” and more “street fight punch.” Bell slammed nose-first into the wall, collecting Chris Buescher and punching their tickets to the garage before Stage 1 even ended.
Meanwhile, the race up front was a dizzying, beautiful mess.
For the first 20 laps, the field fanned out four-wide, moving at 200 mph and somehow not immediately dying. Zane Smith, the surprise pole-sitter, led the first lap with all the confidence of a freshman asked to give a speech in front of the senior class — before being promptly swallowed whole by the pack.
It eventually settled into two civilized lines — and Kyle Larson, of all people, swooped in to win Stage 1. Larson, whose relationship with superspeedways is usually about as successful as a cat’s relationship with a swimming pool, not only won the stage but finished a career-best third at the end of the day.
Stage 2 was a Toyota parade, with Bubba Wallace leading the charge to claim the green-and-white flag.
And for much of the final stage, it looked like Toyota would ride off into the sunset. Ty Gibbs led an organized Toyota army, swapping the lead with Chase Briscoe, while the odd Ford or Chevy poked at the gates.
Enter Joey Logano.
With 30 laps to go, Logano, pushed by Zane Smith, managed to bulldoze his Ford to the front, interrupting Toyota’s tea party. He led laps 162 to 164 before the final green flag stops reshuffled the pack once more.
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The stops split the field into haves and have-nots. In a Chevy Carson Hocevar led the first group of off pit road, a group ironically made up of the Toyota legion. The Hendrick cars, Logano, and a few others stayed out for another lap, gambling for track position.
But the game was already set. Cindric’s 3.2-second stop had put him in prime position. Now he just had to hang on.
Ryan Preece took over the top lane with five laps to go. No Big One came to reset the deck. No late yellow bailed anyone out.
It was just two drivers, two lines, and a desperate run to the checkered flag.
And in the end, it was Cindric — by a bumper.
“It definitely was not easy,” Cindric said. “I give a lot of credit, Kyle 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, get in the Playoffs in front of this amazing crowd on a beautiful day in Alabama.”
The stats: 67 lead changes among 23 drivers, including cameos at the front by names like Carson Hocevar and Anthony Alfredo.
Alfredo, driving a Beard Motorsports car with exactly one full-time employee, led 19 laps — which, for the record, is more than the team had ever led combined in all its races.
Behind Cindric and *Preece, Larson seemed downright giddy to cross the line third, a career best on a superspeedway.
“I will take a third-place finish,” Larson said. “We had a great day, points-wise, for this No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet team. Winning the first stage was a bit unexpected, and then finishing third in the second stage from where we were on the final restart was also unexpected. Just a really good day, overall.”
Byron was fourth. Logano was fifth. Noah Gragson, Chase Elliott, Hocevar, Alex Bowman, and Bubba Wallace rounded out the top 10.
Talladega is usually a wreck-fest lottery. This time, it was a chess match at 200 mph.
And for Austin Cindric — a guy whose career sometimes looked stuck in second gear — it was the biggest move yet toward proving he belongs among the sport’s heavy hitters.
Next up is Texas Motor Speedway, where Chase Elliott will try to defend his win — and everyone else will be hoping that, for once, Texas gives us something slightly less crazy than Talladega.
But honestly, what are the odds of that?
*But wait, there’s more. After NASCAR’s post-race inspection the cars of Preece (60) and Logano (22) were disqualified for:
- No. 60 – 14.5.8.F Spoiler
- No. 22 – 14.5.8.E Spoiler; 14.1.P; Overall Assembled Vehicle Rules
They also said the 5 (Larson), 10 (Noah Gragson, 21 (Josh Berry and 23 (Bubba Wallace) are returning to the R&D Center for engine dyno and the Nos. 5 and 21 will also be inspected. So this part of the story may not be over, just yet. Team Penske though, appears ready to simply move on:
Team Penske statement on disqualification of No. 22 Team Penske Ford Mustang this evening at Talladega: “The No. 22 Team Penske Ford Mustang was disqualified following post-race inspection at Talladega today. One of the 18 bolts on the surface of the spoiler that connect to the base was found to be loose, and NASCAR penalized the team as a result. This was not intentional and happened throughout the course of the race event. Team Penske accepts the disqualification.”
RACE RESULTS
Greg was a writer for DriveTribe supporting Amazon's The Grand Tour and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, and a Masters degree in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek and a regular contributor to Forbes.
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