How lapped cars helped Austin Cindric win at Talladega

It is ironic that Austin Cindric won at the fastest track in NASCAR thanks to the help of slow cars in Talladega. In a break from the crashfests of recent superspeedway races, Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway was a battle in the slipstream as Cindric duelled with Ryan Preece.

Save for two accidents in Stage 1, the race was remarkably incident-free with the second and third stages staying fully green. Thus, the main question on everyone’s minds was who to work with and when to make their move in the pack.

Although both are fellow Fords, Cindric and Preece led the field in opposite lines with Chevrolets as their drafting partners: Cindric ran on the inside with Kyle Larson, while Preece was pushed by Larson’s team-mate William Byron. Preece took the white flag before some of the cars behind him lost the draft and broke off.

Cindric tried to capitalise with Larson’s help, but failed to gain enough steam to pull ahead. Directly in front of Cindric, Josh Berry and Kyle Busch were slowly moving along and working together, desperate to avoid being put a lap down in Talladega.

At non-drafting tracks, this scenario would be a nightmare for Cindric since they run the risk of impeding him and allowing Preece to pass him. At Talladega, however, it was an opportunity for Cindric as he reached Busch’s rear to get into his draft. The move gave him just enough juice to beat Preece to the finish.

“We did all we could,” said Preece. “I felt like we executed Stage 3 exactly like we needed to. We came out in the front of our group and worked our way through that traffic. We had the opportunity to get to the top lane and then from there it was just managing those cars behind us and not giving up what we gained.”

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The victory was the third of Cindric’s Cup Series career and his second on a superspeedway after the 2021 Daytona 500. Sandwiched between those was victory at Gateway in 2024. Incidentally, all three wins saw Cindric take the lead on the final lap.

“You’re waiting for it to go wrong, but you’ve got to stay in the zone,” commented Cindric. “There are so many times at the end I was just focused on the feedback Doug Campbell (spotter) was giving me and what I knew about our car and maybe other cars I observed throughout the field today. Just an absolutely fantastic job by everybody involved.”

Preece and Logano disqualified

Ironically, Preece losing the photo finish is less heart-wrenching than the alternative. Had he been able to beat Cindric, he would have celebrated his first NASCAR Cup Series victory only to have it revoked a few hours later.

After the race, Preece and fifth-placed Joey Logano were both disqualified for spoiler-related infractions that were spotted in post-race inspection.

Preece’s #60 was found to have have three shims on the rear spoiler, when only two are allowed. Shims are graduated carbon-fibre pieces used to alter the angle of the spoiler. While other races permit multiple, superspeedway events like Talladega only allow two.

Meanwhile, Logano’s #22 was missing a bolt in the spoiler brace. Spoiler braces are required at superspeedways to keep them rigid and apply additional sideforce; a single brace is bolted down using six bolts and ten washers.

Due to the penalty, Preece falls from 14th in points to 18th while Logano drops out of the top ten to 11th. This leaves Preece below the 16-driver cut line to make the playoffs, though it is still early in the season and his otherwise solid performances should keep him in contention.

With Logano still in a fairly safe position in the standings, his team will not appeal the disqualification.

“One of the 18 bolts on the surface of the spoiler that connect to the base was found to be loose, and NASCAR penalised the team as a result,” reads a statement from Team Penske. “This was not intentional and happened throughout the course of the race event. Team Penske accepts the disqualificiation.”

While the penalty certainly stings, Roger Penske can still at least find some solace in one of his drivers winning the race.

“It’s about time one of us wins these things. You think about the amount of laps led by Team Penske and Ford in general and we just haven’t been able to close,” remarked Logano. “To see a couple Fords there on the front row duking it out, I wish one of them was me in a selfish way but its also good to see those guys running up there and being able to click one off for Penske.”

Logano and Preece are the second and third drivers to be disqualified so far in the 2025 Cup Series season. Erik Jones suffered the same fate at Martinsville in late March.

NASCAR 2025 Jack Link’s 500 – Results