NASCAR Race Central

• Sunday, April 27th, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain

Austin Cindric wins wild Talladega race with last-lap pass

Austin Cindric’s dramatic last lap pass provided exactly the sort of Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway thrill that NASCAR fans have come to expect at the sport’s biggest track, earning the 2022 Daytona 500 winner Cindric – and Team Penske – their first trophies of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Cindric’s No. 2 Team Penske Ford pulled ahead of Roush Fenway Keselowski driver Ryan Preece’s No. 60 Ford by the length of a front hood to claim a .022-second victory in Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 – the two Ford Mustangs exchanging the lead five times in the final six laps.

However, the Fords driven by Preece and fifth place finisher, Cindric’s Penske teammate Joey Logano were subsequently disqualified following post-race inspection for technical violations. NASCAR officials found an illegal spoiler on Preece’s Mustang and a spoiler violation on Logano’s No. 22 Mustang that also violated Overall Assembled Vehicle Rules.

The disqualifications moved Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet teammates Kyle Larson and William Byron into second and third place in the race’s final standings.

“I’m just so proud of this team from the [pit] cycles to the fast cars to the fuel-only stops,’’ said the 26-year old Cindric, whose team – with 17 laps remaining – turned in the fastest final pit stop putting him back out front and able to contend for the win in a race that featured 67 lead changes among 23 drivers.

“It definitely wasn’t easy,’’ Cindric said of holding off the Hendrick teammates for the checkered flag. “I give a lot of credit, Kyle [Larson] did a lot to take care of me, pushing me at the right times in the tri-oval and as mad as I was at him after Atlanta [race], I feel like we’re good now. That was great and having a photo-finish at Talladega and get in the Playoffs in front of this amazing crowd, beautiful day in Alabama.’’

The Hendrick teammates Larson and Byron acknowledged lapped traffic in front of the lead pack, looming just beyond the finish line, certainly created an extra consideration. Yet the runner-up showing for Larson, who won Stage 1 and led three laps on the day, was a career best effort at Talladega. It was a major move forward for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion drafting tracks such as Talladega, Daytona and Atlanta – all venues where the 31-race winner has yet to earn a trophy.

“I wanted to take it, but just felt like the gap was too big,’’ said Larson, who ran directly behind Cindric in the closing laps, adding. “I was just second row inside and just going to do everything I could to try and advance our lane and maybe open it up so maybe then I could get to the outside, but we were all pushing so equally that it kept the lanes kind of jammed up.

“I needed something else to kinda happen, maybe them to get blocking each other or something, but still a great day. A stage win, P3 in the second stage and P3 in the final, so great points day and best career finish on a superspeedway so happy with the performance in the Hendricks.com Chevy.”

Cindric is the 10^th different winner in the last 10 Talladega races – a record streak at the iconic 2.66-mile high-banked track. Yet Sunday’s race was relatively calm compared to some previous editions at the high-action drafting track. It marked the fourth time a Tallladega race had only four caution flags – two of which were scheduled stage caution breaks.

With the two disqualifications, Front Row Motorsports’ Noah Gragson and Hendrick’s Chase Elliott round out the top-five.

Chevrolet drivers, Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar and Hendrick’s Alex Bowman finished sixth and seventh with former Talladega winner, and Sunday’s Stage 2 winner Bubba Wallace eighth in the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota. Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suárez and Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon completed the updated top-10.

Although their teammates ran well and earned stage points, it was a frustrating afternoon for Penske’s Ryan Blaney and Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s Brad Keselowski.

The two former champions and past multi-time Talladega winners were collected in an accident on lap 43 during a pit stop cycle before the first Stage break. Keselowski and Chevy’s Kyle Busch collided on track as Keselowski was moving to pit road for a stop – their contact collected Blaney spinning him out as well.

The owner-driver of the No. 6 Ford, Keselowski, who was already mired in a disappointing early season, finished 36^th and is now ranked 32^nd in the championship standings.

“It was just a stack of guys trying to come to pit road as fast as they could and we were kind of the ham in the sandwich that got squeezed.’’ said Keselowski, who leads all active drivers with six Talladega wins. “I waved down the backstretch to let everybody know I was gonna pit and I came off of four and everybody was so tight behind me that I didn’t even have a chance to turn left. I hate that it ruined not just our day, but several other people’s day. I don’t think I could do anything different.”

Blaney, who drives the No. 12 Team Penske Ford was scored as 37^th – ahead of the two disqualified drivers. It marked his fourth DNF in the 10-race season, but the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion has led 198 laps on the season and is still ranked eighth in the standings.

“Another DNF – it just sucks,’’ Blaney said. Just when we were kind of getting our momentum and didn’t even get to race today. We’ll just move on to Texas.”

With his third-place finish, Byron continues to lead the championship standings, now 31 points ahead of his teammate Larson. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, who had been second in points going into Talladega is now ranked third, 52 points behind Byron.

The NASCAR Cup Series now heads West to Texas Motor Speedway for next Sunday’s Wurth 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY. Chase Elliott is the defending race winner.

• Saturday, April 19th, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer

Tyler Ankrum breaks 130-winless streak with victory at Rockingham

It had been so long since Tyler Ankrum won his first NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race that the driver of the No. 18 McAnally-Hilgemann Chevrolet couldn’t find Victory Lane after winning Friday’s Black’s Tire 200 at Rockingham Speedway.

After a prodigious effort at saving fuel, Ankrum coasted across the finish line 6.657 seconds ahead of pole winner and runner-up Jake Garcia to break a 130-race drought dating to July 11, 2019.

Ankrum’s last win was so long ago that the track that gave him his maiden victory — Kentucky Speedway — has long since fallen off the NASCAR national series schedule.

In the series’ return to “The Rock” after an 11-year absence, Ankrum had to battle back from damage sustained during an accident on Lap 2, an incident that put him a lap down. Ankrum got his lap back as the beneficiary under caution for Stage 2 break after Lap 90 and embarked on a heroic drive to the front.

The trophy wasn’t the only reward Ankrum got for the victory. He also earned a $50,000 check for winning the final Triple Truck Challenge race.

“It’s strange — I didn’t know where Victory Lane was at,” Ankrum said after climbing from his truck. “The way this day started, going a lap down and (crew chief) Mark (Hillman) making a pit call to get the track position back…

“Just saving fuel, man. I knew we were five (laps) short. I was hoping I had saved enough, and we did… I just found something there where I was pretty much lifting 60 percent down the straightaway, and I was able to draft off of (Matt) Crafton and a couple of other guys, and I was able to save that way.

“It’s just surreal. I feel like this is pretty much the way it went down at Kentucky in 2019.”

Ankrum took the lead for good on Lap 172 after Corey Heim and Gio Ruggiero came to pit road. The two TRICON Garage drivers stayed on the track during consecutive cautions early in the final stage and were running 1-2 before having to come to pit road for fuel.

Heim seemed confused by the strategy that kept him on the track while other top contenders pitted for the fuel they hoped would carry them to the end of the race.

“I felt like if we had the track position we would have been in really good shape from the very start,” said Heim, who started 15th and finished eighth. “Just didn’t have a good qualifying effort on my end. It was kind of an uphill battle from there all day.

“I didn’t exactly know what happened there the last 40 laps there, but we pitted, and it seems like some of the other guys didn’t run of fuel. Unfortunate. Just a weird deal in that last stage but have to be better on my part to qualify better and have the track position.”

Even though the Front Row Motorsports Fords of Layne Riggs and Chandler Smith pitted after Heim’s final stop, both ran short of fuel and had to bring their trucks to pit road in the closing laps.

Daniel Hemric, Rajah Caruth and Grant Enfinger benefited from the Fords’ gas shortage, finishing third, fourth and fifth, respectively.

Trouble continued to follow reigning series champion Ty Majeski, whose truck broke loose from the inside lane in Turn 1 while he was racing Enfinger on Lap 109. Majeski’s No. 98 ThorSport Ford backed into the outside wall and was eliminated from the race. He finished 31st after a 13th-place run at Martinsville and a 33rd-place result at Bristol in the previous two races.

“I can’t really blame Grant,” Majeski said. “He held me tight, obviously took the air off my right side. Yeah, just embarrassed, honestly. These last three weeks isn’t who I am as a driver. I feel so bad for everybody at ThorSport—(owners) Duke and Rhonda (Thorson) — yeah, I just need to be better.”

Heim, who led a race-high 52 laps compared to 43 for Garcia and 29 for Ankrum, held the top spot in the series standings by 22 points over Chandler Smith and 62 points over Ankrum in third. Kaden Honeycutt, Jack Wood, Corey Heim, Connor Mosack and Gio Ruggiero finished sixth through 10th, respectively, in Saturday’s race.