TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) — Austin Cindric gave Team Penske its first NASCAR victory of the season by holding off a huge pack of challengers over the closing lap in a rare drama-free day at Talladega Superspeedway.
Well, there was a tiny bit of drama: Penske teammate Joey Logano was livid following the end of Sunday’s second stage when Cindric didn’t push him and it allowed Toyota driver Bubba Wallace to win the stage.
“Way to go Austin,” seethed Logano, who used multiple expletives in his anger over his Penske radio. “You just gave it to him. Gave a Toyota a stage win. Nice job. Way to go … put that in the book.”
Didn’t matter to Cindric as he celebrated the third win of his Cup Series career and snapped a 30-race losing streak. The victory makes him the first Penske driver locked into the playoffs.
“Rock on, guys,” Cindric said over his radio. “Rock and roll. Let’s go!”
Cindric was followed by Ryan Preece as Ford drivers went 1-2. Kyle Larson and William Byron finished third and fourth for Hendrick Motorsports, but the two Chevrolet drivers pushed Cindric and Preece from the second row rather than pull out of line on the final lap and make a third lane in an attempt to win.
It was Larson’s best career finish at Talladega, where drafting and pack racing is required and neither suits his style. He said he wanted to make a move to try to take the win from Cindric but there was never any room.
“I wanted to take it but I felt like the gap was too big,” Larson said. “I was just stuck inside and just doing everything I could to advance our lane and maybe open it up to where I then could get to the outside. But we were all just pushing so equally that it kept the lanes jammed up.”
Logano was fifth and followed by Noah Gragson for two more Ford cars, while Hendrick driver Chase Elliott was seventh — two spots ahead of teammate Alex Bowman, with Carson Hocevar of Spire Motorsports sandwiched in between at eighth. Wallace at 10th was the highest-finishing Toyota driver.
Cindric led five times but for only seven of the 188 laps in an unusually calm race for chaotic Talladega. The track last fall recorded the largest crash in the NASCAR history when 28 cars were collected in a demolition derby with four laps remaining.
On Sunday, there were only four cautions — two for stage breaks — totaling 22 laps. It was the fourth consecutive Talladega race with only four cautions, the two for stage breaks and the two for natural cautions.
But, Sunday featured season-highs in lead changes (67) among different drivers (23). Only five cars failed to finish from the 40-car field, and a whopping 30 drivers finished on the lead lap.
Cindric marked the 10th consecutive different winner at Talladega, extending the track record of no repeat winners. And, by the time it was over, Logano seemed to have calmed down.
“About time one of us wins these things,” Logano said of the Penske trio. “When you think about the amount of laps led by Team Penske and Ford in general, just haven’t been able to close. To see a couple of Fords on the front row duking it out, I wish one of them was me, in a selfish way. But it’s good to see those guys running up there and being able to click one off.”
Larson sets NASCAR record for stage wins
When he won the first stage at Talladega, it was the 67th of Kyle Larson’s career and made him NASCAR’s all-time stage winner. He broke a tie with Martin Truex Jr. with the victory.
Stages were introduced in 2017 as a way to ensure natural breaks during races that allowed fans to rush to the bathroom or concession stand without missing any action. Cars typically make a pit stop during a stage break.
When Larson set the NASCAR record and headed to pit road as the leader, he was penalized for speeding and dropped to 17th in the running order for the restart.
Teammate-on-teammate collision
Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin, who combined to win five of the first nine races this season, had a collision on a restart that ensured Bell would not win his fourth race of the season.
It happened on a restart in the first stage of the race with Bell on the front row next to Chris Buescher on his inside, with Hamlin behind him. As the cars revved to get up to speed at the green flag, Hamlin ran into the back of Bell, which caused him to turn into Bell and create the second caution of the race.
Bell went to the garage, where he joined Ryan Blaney, Buescher and Brad Keselowski, all betting favorites who were done for the day before the end of the first stage.
“What in the hell? Man, apologies if that’s on me,” Hamlin radioed. “We weren’t even up to speed yet. I don’t know why that would have wrecked him. When he shot down to the bottom, I wasn’t even sure I was actually on him.”
On the earlier incident that collected Blaney, Keselowski, Kyle Busch and ended Buescher’s race, it was the fourth DNF in 10 races for Blaney.
Up Next
NASCAR races next week at Texas Motor Speedway, where Elliott scored his only win of the 2024 season last April.
