NASCAR News: Stenhouse wins photo finish Cup race at Talladega

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won the YellaWood 500 NASCAR Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway in a photo finish by 0.006s over Brad Keselowski.

Stenhouse Jr. survived the late-race calamity that struck with five laps to go and involved eight playoff drivers. The ‘Big One’ came after Austin Cindric got spun from the lead after an aggressive push, triggering a 23-car pileup on the backstretch.

Stenhouse Jr. earned his second win at Talladega and first there since 2017. The victory is also Stenhouse’s first since winning the 2023 Daytona 500.

William Byron, Kyle Larson and Erik Jones rounded out the top five.

Christopher Bell, Justin Haley, Austin Dillon, Bubba Wallace and Denny Hamlin all completed the top 10.

With his third-place result, William Byron becomes the first driver to lock into the Round of 8 thanks to the points buffer he attained by the checkered flag of Sunday’s race.

Stenhouse, the 36-year-old Mississippi native who is not playoff-eligible, hoisted his fourth career trophy — all coming at superspeedway tracks — and first since winning the 2023 Daytona 500. His No. 47 JTG-Daugherty Chevrolet led 19 of the 195 laps, including the all-important last one after a side-to-battle with six-time Talladega winner Keselowski and this year’s Daytona 500 winner Byron.

This marks the third time in the five playoff races that a non-playoff driver has hoisted the race trophy.

“Felt really good, we had our Chevy teammates behind us and I was hoping Kyle [Busch] wouldn’t push the six [Keselowski] that hard, I knew the 24 was going to try to get to the line,” said Stenhouse, who scored his first career NASCAR Cup Series win at Talladega in 2017.

“Man, this team has put a lot of hard work in and obviously we haven’t won since the Daytona 500 in ’23. It’s been an up-and-down season, a lot of hard work this season trying to find a little bit of speed, but we knew this track is one of ours to come get it.”

The finish was set up after the vast incident that took out several front-running cars and affected all but four playoff drivers. Team Penske’s Austin Cindric was leading the race — having exchanged the top spot multiple times with Stenhouse in the closing 20 laps.

With five laps remaining, Cindric’s leading No. 2 Ford was hit from behind on the backstretch by Keselowski’s No. 6 RFK Racing Ford, triggering an accordion-style accident from three rows behind the leader. Harrison Burton’s No. 21 Ford struck Joey Logano’s No. 22 Ford, pushing Keselowski’s car forward and into Cindric.

The aftermath collected 23 cars in all, completely sidelining playoff drivers Cindric, who was credited with a 32nd-place finish, his Penske teammate Logano (33rd), and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe (30th).

“Obviously incredibly frustrated,” Cindric said. “Just really proud of my team and the full execution of the day. We got that stage win [second stage] and put ourselves at the front of that green flag pit cycle and had another shot [to win].

“I don’t feel like complaining right now. I’m too pissed off and it won’t do anything. But proud of the team. We’ve brought really fast race cars to every single race of the playoffs and we’re going to have to bring another one next week and I need to go out and do my job.”

His Penske teammate Logano, who was similarly frustrated, said there was nothing he could have done to avoid the accident.

“I don’t think we could have done anything much different,” the two-time series champion Logano said. “We had the bottom working fairly well and by the time we got off [turn] two, the push from the 21 [Burton] that transferred to the six (Keselowski) that transferred to the 2 [Cindric] just at a bad angle. And off he went.”

Other playoff drivers affected in the accident included, perennial Talladega race favorite Chase Elliott, who finished 29th after pitting for repairs following the accident

Defending race winner and reigning champion Ryan Blaney was on pace for solid points day until a push from the No. 48 of Alex Bowman sent the No. 12 Ford out of shape and wrecking into Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano on the final lap of Stage 2, ending Blaney’s day and scored with a 39th-place finish in a 40-car field.

Another playoff competitor, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell was sixth, followed by Justin Haley — in his second 2024 race for Spire Motorsports. Austin Dillon, Bubba Wallace and Bell’s fellow playoff driver and JGR teammate Denny Hamlin completed the top 10.

With Byron’s finish, he becomes the first and only playoff contender to secure a position in the next eight-race round. Bell is next in the standings, holding a 57-point advantage on the provisional elimination line, followed by Larson, Hamlin, Bowman, Blaney, Reddick and Elliott.

Elliott is 13 points ahead of Logano going into next week’s race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course, where the playoff field will shrink down from 12 to eight drivers. Daniel Suárez, who rallied to a 26th-place finish despite spending most of the race recovering from a pre-race penalty for equipment violations, is now 20 points behind Elliott for that final transfer position.

Cindric and Briscoe are 29 and 32 points back, respectively.

The Round of 12 concludes next Sunday at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course.

ANOTHER PHOTO FINISH AT TALLADEGA!

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. WINS by 0.006 seconds over Brad Keselowski. |#NASCAR pic.twitter.com/nTdbahfbdZ

— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) October 6, 2024

Winner Quotes

THE MODERATOR: Boy, Ricky, 6 one thousandths of a second. What was your take on that final really half lap?

RICKY STENHOUSE JR.: It felt really good. We had our Chevy teammates behind us, and I was hoping Kyle wasn’t going to push the 6 that hard. I knew the 24 was probably going to try and get to the line there.

But, man, this team has put a lot of hard work in. Obviously we haven’t won since the 500 in ’23. It’s been an up-and-down season.

It was a lot of hard work this season just trying to find a little bit of speed, but we knew that this track is one of ours to come get. So for all of our Southern Mississippi people, appreciate you all coming. This means a lot, winning here.

Got to say we’re thinking about everybody in Western North Carolina. Brad Dougherty, his family right where he grew up there in Black Mountain, a lot of people are struggling.

I wish my wife and son, Stetson, were here. They didn’t come this weekend. I’ll see you all at home, and man, what I day.

Just proud of this group. The whole Kroger, Palmolive, NOS Energy Drink. There are so many people. SunnyD. There are so many people that helped this. You know, Campers Inn. Man, there’s just so many great product partners in this Kroger program. Glad to give them another win.

THE MODERATOR: Madyson and Stetson didn’t make the trip, but what do you think that hug is going to be like from the big guy when he is back at the track, Brad Dougherty?

RICKY STENHOUSE JR.: Yeah, I’m looking forward to seeing him. I’m looking forward to going to North Carolina and helping the clean-up. We’re working on that you now with Team Rubicon to go out there and help clean-up. Looking forward to that. This win is really, really special.

1. What a finish. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. gets back to victory lane here at Talladega.

2024 YellaWood 500 at Talladega Race Results