Austin Cindric takes Talladega! Photo finish caps NASCAR Cup Series race

Austin Cindric will race in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs for the third time after winning at Talladega.

Cindric, the 26-year-old driver who grew up in Mooresville, edged Ryan Preece in a thrilling 0.022-second photo finish Sunday after the two raced side-by-side on the final five of 188 laps that ended the Jack Link’s 500.

Preece was disqualified following post-race inspection, NASCAR announced Sunday night, for having three shims instead of two on the No. 60 car’s rear spoiler. Joey Logano, who initially finished in fifth place, was disqualified for missing a spoiler bolt.

Cindric led seven laps Sunday in Alabama at the world’s largest superspeedway, coming out on top after a race that included 67 lead changes. Most of the contending Ford drivers opted to pit with 17 laps left following the Toyotas — a strategy that proved to be victorious.

“I’m just so proud of this team, from the (pit) cycles to the fast cars to the fuel-only stops,” Cindric said. “Doug (Campbell), my spotter, everybody. I’ve been trying for three or four years to get a Cup win for John Menard Jr. and Menards, and that bright yellow car looks great up front. I’m just so thankful for everyone’s support.

“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.”

Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and William Byron finish in second and third place, respectively, following the disqualifications. Noah Gragson now earns his first Top Five of the season with a P4 finish, and Chase Elliott was fifth.

Official results from the Jack Link’s 500

Ryan Preece and Joey Logano were disqualified following post-race inspection.

The cars of Kyle Larson and Josh Berry are returning to the Research & Development Center for additional inspection; The cars of Ty Dillon, Bubba Wallace, Larson and Berry are being taken to Concord for engine dyno.

Lap-by-lap updates from the NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega

Lap 188: Austin Cindric edges Ryan Preece in a close finish!

Lap 187: Still two-wide as we come to the white flag! Ryan Preece is the leader.

Lap 186: Ryan Preece has the lead, but Austin Cindric is keeping him close next to him, and William Byron is working right behind.

Lap 183: Ryan Preece got around William Byron in the outside lane! Austin Cindric and Preece are now leading the field side-by-side, being pushed by William Byron and Kyle Larson. Ty Gibbs and most of the Toyotas are still down in at least 20th place.

Lap 179: William Byron and Austin Cindric are side-by-side at the front of the pack. Kyle Larson runs behind Cindric, while Alex Bowman pushes his teammate Byron. Noah Gragson, Ryan Preece, Joey Logano, Zane Smith, Ty Dillon and Carson Hocevar round out your Top 10.

Lap 177: William Byron passes Austin Cindric from the outside!

Lap 175: Denny Hamlin is told he is about a half-lap short on fuel.

Lap 173: Austin Cindric is the leader with 16 laps to go, ahead of William Byron, Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott. Kyle Busch got a pass-through speeding penalty exiting pit road, and Josh Berry has been penalized for being too fast in the first section.

Lap 172: Joey Logano and the other Ford drivers come down pit road with 17 laps to go. Cody Ware gets a pass-through penalty for seeding.

Lap 167: Ty Dillon leads. Josh Berry surges from the outside, being pushed by Ryan Preece. Joey Logano runs in P4, and Kyle Busch is back up to fifth place.

Lap 165: Joey Logano and Josh Berry are in the lead. Ty Dillon, Zane Smith and Ryan Preece jump into the Top Five. Carson Hocevar won the race off pit road, which included mostly Toyota cars.

Lap 164: Joey Logano and Zane Smith are out in front with 25 laps to go as the Toyotas get set to come by pit road. Ty Gibbs, Cole Custer and Denny Hamlin run behind them.

Lap 159: Ty Gibbs, Denny Hamlin, Riley Herbst, Bubba Wallace and Joey Logano are your Top Five with 30 laps left.

Lap 152: Kyle Busch is back in the Top 15, running as high as P9, after being involved in the Lap 43 wreck that took out Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney.

Lap 146: Ty Gibbs continues leading as five Toyotas run single-file up front.

Your Top 10: Gibbs, Denny Hamlin, Riley Herbst, Bubba Wallace, Chase Briscoe, Todd Gilliland, Noah Gragson, Cody Ware, Kyle Busch and Erik Jones.

Lap 136: Ty Gibbs is out in front as Toyotas are dominating. Denny Hamlin has driven up to second place, Riley Herbst in third place, Bubba Wallace in fourth place and Chase Briscoe in fifth place.

Lap 127: Green for the final stage! Sixty-two laps remain. Chase Briscoe, Riley Herbst, Ty Gibbs, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Bubba Wallace, Joey Logano and Zane Smith bring us back.

Lap 122: Bubba Wallace held off Team Penske teammates Joey Logano and Austin Cindric to win the second stage.

Your points-getters following Stage 2: Wallace, Logano, Kyle Larson, Cindric, Carson Hocevar, Ryan Preece, Tyler Reddick, Todd Gilliland, Zane Smith and Josh Berry.

Stage 2

Lap 120: Bubba Wallace wins Stage 2!

Lap 119: Bubba Wallace and Joey Logano make contact at the front of the pack with two laps to go in the stage!

Lap 114: Carson Hocevar leads the field once again! Joey Logano comes up from the outside, while Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace try to pass those Fords from the second row.

Lap 113: John Hunter Nemechek spins by himself! No caution.

Lap 112: And here comes a pack of Fords, which includes Joey Logano. The 23XI Racing cars of Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick and Riley Herbst lead for a moment.

Lap 111: A group of Chevrolets, including all the Hendrick motorsports cars, pit. Chase Elliott, Shane Van Gisbergen and Daniel Suárez get speeding penalties on pit road.

Lap 109: Carson Hocevar is up front alongside Joey Logano as cars get ready to come to pit road.

Lap 100: Anthony Alfredo finally pits. Noah Gragson and Joey Logano battle for the lead, with Cody Ware charging from the second row alongside Ryan Preece and Josh Berry.

Lap 92: Anthony Alfredo has now led 12 laps, the longest the No. 62 car has led a Cup Series race in 67 years — since Frankie Schneider beat a 25-car field including Lee Petty and Junior Johnson in a Friday race in Northern Virginia at Old Dominion Speedway in 1958.

Lap 88: Daniel Suárez gets to the lead!

Lap 82: Ross Chastain and Anthony Alfredo trade leads ahead of Daniel Suárez, Josh Berry and Chase Elliott.

Lap 78: Ross Chastain drives to the top of the race track, battling Anthony Alfredo up front. Joey Logano runs in third place, Daniel Suárez in P4 and Austin Dillon in fifth place.

Lap 75: Christopher Bell and Chris Buescher are officially out of the race, in addition to Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski. BJ McLeod came off the track with an issue.

Lap 72: Anthony Alfredo jumps in front of the pack in the lead!

Lap 69: Ross Chastain moves into the lead from the outside lane, as William Byron runs in the middle lane and Anthony Alfredo is gaining speed from the inside lane.

Lap 67: Green for Stage 2! William Byron and Daniel Suárez jump out in front. Anthony Alfredo restarted on the front row.

Lap 62: Kyle Larson drove to the front during the final lap of a thrilling first stage in a race that has already seen 22 lead changes.

And this marks Larson’s 67th stage victory — passing Martin Truex Jr. for the all-time Cup Series record.

Earning points: Larson, William Byron, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chase Elliott, Bubba Wallace, Denny Hamlin, AJ Allmendinger, Cody Ware, Riley Herbst and Ty Dillon.

Stage 1

Lap 60: Kyle Larson, who’d been running in the outside lane, passes Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to get to the lead during the final lap of the opening stage!

Lap 59: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. gets out in front from the outside lane! Bubba Wallace surges on the inside as we come up one lap to go.

Lap 58: Denny Hamlin leads in the middle, with Ryan Preece and Riley Herbst behind him and Bubba Wallace leading the inside lane ahead of Cody Ware.

Lap 57: Back to green with four laps left in Stage 1! Denny Hamlin and Bubba Wallace are out in front.

Lap 55: Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney are out of the race.

Lap 53: Denny Hamlin turned Christopher Bell from the outside, and Bell spun and got into Chris Buescher. Both cars made contact with the wall.

Lap 52: Back to green with nine laps to go in the opening stage! Chris Buescher and Christopher Bell lead — and wreck! Buescher and Bell turn, the No. 20 car makes a hard slam into the inside wall, and we’re right back under caution.

Lap 49: Joey Logano leads a group of cars down pit road under caution late in the stage.

Lap 44: Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney are out of their car in the garage. Alex Bowman has minor damage from the wreck as well.

Lap 43: A big crash coming onto pit road brings out the first caution! Kyle Busch gets into Brad Keselowski as the Fords started coming to pit road, and Ryan Blaney got collected as he drove into a spinning No. 6 car. All three cars are headed to the garage.

Lap 41: And here come our first pit stops of the day! The Toyotas lead 14 cars down pit road. Cole Custer is back into the lead, alongside Joey Logano, who gets by Ryan Preece and Chase Elliott.

Lap 30: Many of the Toyota drivers made aggressive moves toward the front of the pack; Chase Briscoe, Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, Riley Herbst and Tyler Reddick formed a single-file line and drove to the outside lane. Joey Logano is now battling with Ryan Preece for seventh place, as Cole Custer and Michael McDowell now round out the Top 10 after leading the first half of the opening stage.

Lap 29: Chase Briscoe is in the lead, ahead of Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace and Riley Herbst, who now run single-file in front of the pack.

Lap 26: Michael McDowell leads once again, and Chase Briscoe moves up into second place. Ryan Preece and Christopher Bell now in the second row.

Lap 25: Kyle Busch is out in front from the middle, with Zane Smith in P2 alongside him. Michael McDowell and Josh Berry run behind them.

Lap 23: Josh Berry gets over to the inside lane, and Kyle Busch surges to the lead from the middle.

Lap 22: Michael McDowell has driven to the front of the pack, now in the middle. Zane Smith dives toward the outside lane and passes Josh Berry.

Lap 17: Ryan Preece leads from the middle lane, Josh Berry is in front of the outside lane and Michael McDowell has the lead from the inside. Zane Smith works behind McDowell, Cole Custer behind Berry and Chris Buescher in the middle behind Preece.

Lap 16: Michael McDowell is back in the lead.

Lap 14: Josh Berry and Ryan Preece trade leads at the front of the pack, ahead of Chris Buescher, Cole Custer and Michael McDowell.

Lap 8: Michael McDowell, Josh Berry, Zane Smith and Joey Logano go four-wide for the lead! Ryan Preece and Cole Custer surge toward them.

Lap 6: Michael McDowell and Josh Berry surge toward the front of the pack! Joey Logano holds them off in the lead.

Lap 2: Joey Logano takes the lead from Zane Smith! Austin Dillon formed the inside lane and charged up toward the front, and the aforementioned three drivers race three-wide for the lead early.

Green flag, 3:20 p.m.: We’re off! Zane Smith jumps out in front of the pack.

3:15 p.m.: Plenty of fuel saving is expected today at the sport’s largest superspeedway. Teams have seven sets of tires for the 188-lap, 500.08-mile race; Stages are 60, 60 and 68 laps, respectively.

3:08 p.m.: “Drivers, start your engines!” Jack Link’s chief financial officer Adam Smith gives command at Talladega. Racin’ is coming up soon!

3:05 p.m.: The Invocation has been given, and the national anthem has been performed. Command is coming up shortly to fire the engines at Talladega, where Zane Smith is on the pole and JJ Yeley remains the only one to the rear for adjustments in the Jack Link’s 500.

2:45 p.m.: Some timing info for today’s race, from NASCAR: the invocation is coming up at roughly 3 p.m., followed by the national anthem, command at 3:08 p.m. and green flag at 3:20 p.m. FOX has the television coverage today for the fifth and final Cup Series race — the next four races will be on FS1 before Prime Video broadcasts the Coca-Cola 600 on May 25.

2:35 p.m.: Happy Race Day! We’re less than an hour out from the green flag at Talladega. JJ Yeley is the only driver whose car is expected to dropped to the rear.

Zane Smith wins first career Cup Series pole

Zane Smith is a pole-sitter in the NASCAR Cup Series for the first time at Talladega.

The 25-year-old Cup driver, in his first season at Front Row Motorsports, won the pole position for Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500, edging Kyle Busch and Joey Logano with a 182.174-mph run (52.565 seconds) during the qualifying session Saturday at Alabama’s famed superspeedway.

Smith, who boasts one Top 10 finish this season entering the 10th race, pilots the No. 38 Ford for Front Row after a full-time season at Spire Motorsports, through its partnership with Trackhouse Racing. He made several starts for Ford-based Cup teams before last season, including the 2023 spring race at Talladega — also behind the wheel of Front Row’s No. 38 machine.

“(Front Row Motorsports) has always brought a ton of speed and Fords are always fast on the superspeedways, so it makes you just maybe a little bit more excited to get to these style of races,” Smith said Saturday. “The Fords push and work really well together, so you look forward to those things, but with that said — it’s still Talladega. A lot is gonna happen and go on, but you can only execute what you can control, so we can control trying to bring a fast car and we accomplished that and got a pole award out of it.

“It’s already off to a great weekend and something to check off of an accomplishment that I’ve always wanted. I’ve always wanted to race on Sunday, and to be able to get a pole on Sunday now is really cool to say, so hopefully (Sunday) I can say I’m a race winner in the Cup Series.”

Odds and prediction for the Jack Link’s 500

Ryan Blaney is the favorite to win at +1000 odds, according to FanDuel Sportsbook, followed by Logano (+1200), Austin Cindric (+1300), Brad Keselowski (+1400), Busch (+1500) and William Byron (+1500).

The Observer’s Shane Connuck is picking Keselowski to return to Victory Lane. While this will be Blaney’s race to lose, there’s just too much action at Talladega. The No. 12 car will get out to the lead early, but whether it ends up preserving speed or contending with the leaders, this feels like a strong finish to prevent Blaney’s fourth DNF of the season. Keselowski could have the path to the front — especially with how those RFK Racing Fords have been running. His teammate Ryan Preece qualified on the second row — and the driver of the No. 6 car starts in 22nd place Sunday at Talladega.

How to watch and stream the NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega

Race: Jack Link’s 500

Place: Talladega Superspeedway (Talladega County, Alabama)

Track Length: 2.66-mile asphalt oval

Date: Sunday, April 27

Time: 3 p.m. ET

Purse: $11,055,250

TV: FOX & FOX Deportes, 2 p.m. ET

Streaming: FOX Sports

Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)

Distance: 500.08 miles (188 Laps)

Stages: Stage 1 ends on Lap 60; Stage 2 ends on Lap 120; and the Final Stage ends on Lap 188.

Starting lineup for the Jack Link’s 500

This story was originally published April 26, 2025 at 3:05 PM with the headline "Austin Cindric takes Talladega! Photo finish caps NASCAR Cup Series race."

Shane Connuck

The Charlotte Observer

Shane Connuck is a former journalist for The Charlotte Observer