Yesterday’s Yellawood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama had a rare occurrence of four-wide, side-by-side racing in Stage 1, various lead changes throughout the afternoon, and another Playoff spoiler, as this race is the second in a row where a driver who’s not in championship contention won the race. This now leaving all but one Playoff spot available in the next round. Here’s this week’s rundown on how the race went.
The race began with Michael McDowell once again starting first on a drafting-style racetrack, really putting emphasis on “Front Row” in his team’s name, Front Row Motorsports. Playoff Contender Austin Cindric started alongside him in his Team Penske Ford, while Todd Gilliland laid on teammate McDowell’s bumper, dominating the competition for the first dozen laps.
Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez had a driver through penalty, due to a pre-race unapproved adjustment, meaning his team worked on the car before the race without NASCAR’s approval and had to drive through pit road at around 55MPH. This caused Suarez to lose touch with the lead pack, trailing the field and leaving him in a position to be the first car to get his lap back if he went a lap down. On Lap 12, the pack caught Suarez, leaving him in the middle lane going a lap down. Suarez tried to blend in with the pack, coming up on BJ McCleod on the Backstretch, leaving Suarez slamming into the wall and spinning in the grass. This set the tone for the rest of his day, as Suarez was at least a lap down for the rest of the day.
With just under 20 laps to go in Stage 1, the pack went four-wide throughout the pack. Usually, drivers are nervous going three-wide, but this day was different as drivers were bold enough to run deep in the pack. Towards the very end of Stage 1, drivers went back two-wide and calmed down to preserve their cars and race respectfully for those valuable points. Non-playoff driver, Chris Buescher wound up winning Stage 1, collecting ten points and a Playoff point for RFK Racing, despite Buescher not being eligible for this year’s NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
Buescher restarted in first place at the beginning of Stage 2, with 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick, the Spring in the outside lane. At the halfway point of the race, the Toyota’s came to pit road at the halfway point of the race. Joe Gibbs Racing driver, Martin Truex Jr. spun while slowing down coming into pit road. He was fine, however, as he kept up with his Toyota teammates in the draft, upon exiting pit road. Eventually, everybody cycled onto pit road for fuel, before Stage 2 ended on Lap 120.
Stage 2 saw Austin Cindric receive help from his teammate Ryan Blaney. But a bad push from Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman gave Blaney a bad push, resulting in him slamming into Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain coming to the Start/Finish Line. Blaney and Chastain, who led a lot of laps and ran up front all afternoon were knocked out of the race and credited with 39th and 40th place finishes. Cindric wound up winning the Stage 2, collecting his 10 Points and the Playoff Point.
When the race restarted on Lap 128, Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch and 23XI Racing driver, Bubba Wallace took the green flag with hopes of playing spoiler. Throughout the duration of Stage 3, Kaulig Racing’s A.J. Allmendinger and Team Penske Playoff Contender, Joey Logano traded the lead with each other before everyone made a final stop for fuel.
With four-laps-to-go, RFK Racing driver Brad Keselowski, who is regarded as a master of racing at Talladega Superspeedway, received a bad push from Logano, which propelled Keselowski into leader Austin Cindric, sending him up the track, collecting 27 other cars in the process. This was the largest crash during a NASCAR Cup Series race ever at Talladega Superspeedway. This prompted NASCAR to throw out the Red Flag to clean up the track and tow various vehicles to the garage.
On the final restart, JTG Daugherty’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr. launched ahead to the lead with help from Hendrick Motorsport’s William Byron. on the Inside Lane, Brad Keselowski received help from Byron’s teammate, Kyle Larson. Coming to the Tri-Oval on the final lap, William Byron made it three-wide in an attempt to beat Keselowski and Stenhouse, but it was not enough as Stenhouse beat Byron and Keselowski by .006 seconds, adding onto a season of already super close finishes. While Stenhouse missed this year’s Playoffs, he took his underdog team to Victory Lane and won his first race since the 2023 Daytona 500. William Byron also locked himself into the next round of the Playoffs, not having to worry about the Bank of America ROVAL 400 this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
This Sunday’s race in Concord, North Carolina will be an elimination race, with drivers Joey Logano, Daniel Suarez, Austin Cindric and Chase Brisoce facing the possibility of elimination. You can catch all the action on October 13, at 2:30PM EST on NBC and you won’t want to miss it!
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