TALLADEGA, Ala. — Austin Cindric emerged victorious at the Jack Links 500, clinching his third NASCAR Cup Series win in a thrilling showdown at Talladega Superspeedway. The race concluded with a dramatic final lap battle between Cindric and Ryan Preece, with Cindric crossing the finish line first by a mere 0.022 seconds. "The challenge of winning a cup race at any racetrack is massive," Cindric said. "But to be able to do it here at Talladega and be able to have such a fast car, and as many laps as we have in events past here and be able to get it done finally is a huge testament to the team, total team effort."
The race was notable for its clean competition, with no major wrecks marring the event. Cindric praised the skill of his fellow drivers, saying, "Sometimes we don't display it, but these are the best drivers in the world. I mean, the high percentage moves that are being made and close decisions and close calls that are being made throughout the pack, it might be hard to give perspective on how talented this field is. And that's what makes it gratifying is the competition."
Cindric credited his entire team for the victory, emphasizing the collective effort behind the win. "Going to work with these guys is that fun for me. I wouldn't trade a single one of them for anything. And that win was a total team effort. I get to deliver on everyone's hard work at the end of these races, but what got me there and what continues to get us there is that entire group," he said.
The final laps of the Jack Links 500 turned into an all-out Ford-vs.-Chevy battle, and when the checkered flag flew, Cindric and Preece held off Chevy's Kyle Larson and William Byron in a photo finish. Cindric, who snapped a 30-race winless streak, won by about a yard — or 0.022 seconds on the clock — just holding off Preece as the pack approached lapped traffic. "That bright yellow car looks great up front. I'm thankful for everyone's support," Cindric said after the race. "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."
There’s an unspoken subtext to every Talladega race: The Big One. The massive, high-banked superspeedway provides perfect conditions for enormous, field-swallowing wrecks. They’re the kind of wrecks that both horrify and entice viewers, even if nobody really wants to admit it. This time around, while 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.
In the opening stages, the only wrecks were relatively minor errors of judgment and execution. On lap 43, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, and Ryan Blaney got tangled up during an attempted move onto pit road. Nine laps later, Christopher Bell hit the wall hard following a push from Denny Hamlin. "Denny didn’t do anything wrong," Bell said after getting out of the car. "You have to push, you have to push to be successful. It’s a product of the cars we race with this rules package."
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. Aside from the early collisions that took out some of the race favorites, the only fireworks came from Joey Logano’s microphone. Incensed that Cindric, his teammate, didn’t push him to a stage win, he lit up his radio: "Way to go Austin, way to go, you dumb [expletive]! Way to [expletive]ing go,” Logano bellowed. “What a stupid [expletive]. You just gave it to him. Gave a Toyota a stage win. Nice job. Way to go. What a [expletive]."
"That was all I could do not to wreck Joey," Cindric protested, perhaps thinking of the Hamlin push that sent Bell into the wall. “I was obviously trying to stay there, I was trying not to wreck everybody." Logano, Ty Gibbs, and Chase Briscoe were among the lap leaders; Anthony Alfredo, driving for Beard Motorsports, even managed a few laps at the front of the pack. As the laps wound down, a Chevy brigade of Byron, Larson, and Alex Bowman challenged Ford's Cindric for the lead. Cindric held the low line while Byron led the high line. Preece, a fellow Ford driver, slid high alongside Cindric for the final few laps, setting up the furious finish.
Cindric's victory marks Team Penske's first win of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season. The win also makes him the first Penske driver to lock into the playoffs. Cindric entered the weekend with a great superspeedway record and a maiden Cup Series victory in the 2022 Daytona 500. "We talk about it in every single one of those meetings why we haven’t won one of these races, just really proud of the effort," Cindric shared.
As the race concluded, Kyle Larson expressed his thoughts on the finish: "I don't think there was anything I could have done on the final lap. I needed something else to kind of happen, maybe them blocking each other or something." Byron still leads the season standings with 388 points; Larson moved past Denny Hamlin into second place. Cindric moved into 15th place, up seven spots, thanks to his victory.
In the end, Cindric celebrated his win by wearing Talladega's Superspeedway traditional victory wreath all around the track, likening it to winning the Indianapolis 500. "Feels like I just won the Indy 500," he said of Sunday's NASCAR race. "I'm trying to walk on the plane with this." It was a celebratory day for Cindric, who 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.
Next up, NASCAR races at Texas Motor Speedway, where Elliott scored his only win of the 2024 season last April. The Wurth 400 is scheduled for Sunday, May 4 at 3:30 p.m. ET, and will be televised by FS1.
