Talladega Results, Standings: Stenhouse Jr. Is Latest to Crash the NASCAR Cup Playoffs Party

A 24-car crash with four laps remaining in Sunday’s YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway shook up the NASCAR Cup Series playoff standings while Ricky Stenhouse Jr. piloted his damaged race to his first victory since the 2023 Daytona 500 by six-thousandths of a second over Brad Keselowski.

With the laps winding down in the 188-lap event on the 2.66-mile track, Stenhouse was leading the outside lane. Austin Cindric was on the point on the inside of the high-speed chess match with fellow Ford drivers Keselowski, Joey Logano and Harrison Burton behind him. The inside line was working well until Cindric got too far ahead of Keselowski.

Burton’s push of Logano into Keselowski gave the RFK Racing too much speed when he hit Cindric in the back. That knocked Cindric’s Ford into the driver’s side of Stenhouse’s Chevrolet. Cindric then turned around backward and the crashing of cars that ensued resembled a cue ball break at the beginning of a billiard game. Stenhouse, who sustained a hole in his driver’s door from Cindric’s Ford, and Keselowski escaped the carnage and later challenged each other for the overtime victory.

Keselowski described the situation that triggered the largest crash in the track’s history as an “interesting sequence of events.” He said Todd Gilliland’s slow car stayed on the bottom and that broke up the Ford train that was pulling the inside lane.

“When we rubber banded back together, it just snapped,” Keselowski said. “It just wasn’t a good sequence of events for all of us.”

Stenhouse admitted he was surprised that Keselowski didn’t try to block him as they raced to the checkered flag. Instead, Keselowski stayed with Kyle Larson, who was pushing him, and William Byron continued to shove Stenhouse.

“I think for me there’s little things that are still possible to do with this car with the side drafts and trying to figure out when to side draft and not to side draft,” Stenhouse said. “It’s still effective. It’s not as effective. I think everybody’s cars drive almost too good. So, I feel like it puts everybody really comfortable.”

The massive crash that caused the race to stop for 8 minutes 42 seconds involved seven playoff drivers – Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, Cindric, Joey Logano, Chase Briscoe, Christopher Bell and Daniel Suarez. Entering next weekend’s race on the reconfigured Charlotte Roval, two-time NASCAR champion Logano is 13 points below the cutline, while Suarez is minus 20, Cindric is minus 29 and Briscoe is 12^th in the standings, 32 points below the cutline.

In addition to Stenhouse and the playoff drivers, others involved in the crash were pole winner Michael McDowell, Chris Buescher, A.J. Allmendinger, Burton, John Hunter Nemechek, Bubba Wallace, Noah Gragson, Corey LaJoie, Josh Berry, Todd Gilliland, Anthony Alfredo, Zane Smith, Martin Truex Jr., Shane Van Gisbergen and Erik Jones.

Prior to the “big one” that eliminated Logano, the Team Penske driver was involved with teammate Ryan Blaney on lap 121. That six-car crash eliminated Blaney; however, due to the other problems by seven other playoff drivers he enters next week’s cutoff race sixth in the standings, 25 points above the cutline.

Blaney’s crash occurred as the field charged to the end of Stage 2. He moved his Ford from the inside lane to the center. That’s when a bump from Alex Bowman sent him into Ross Chastain and Logano in the outside lane. Chastain’s car caught fire before he escaped without injury.

“The 48 (Bowman) just drove straight through me in the trioval,” Blaney said. “I don’t know what he’s thinking. (He) just drilled me from like three car lengths back. The worst possible spot you could do it, so it’s pretty dumb on his part. It figures that he gets away Scot free per usual.”

JTG Losing Kroger, But Crew Chief Not Worried

JTG Daugherty is losing Kroger, which has been a major sponsor for several years, at the end of the season, but crew chief Mike Kelley said he wasn’t concerned about 2025 following Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s victory at Talladega Superspeedway.

“I just resigned my deal for a couple of years,” said Kelly, who noted they have a technical alliance with Hendrick Motorsports. “We don’t get everything we want. They give us what they can and when they can. It’s not easy, but I told everybody last year when I took this position that I always felt like even though if I got 30 guys working on our race team, if I got 30 guys working on our race team, if I got 30 guys pulling in the same direction, I like my chances.

“It’s not pretty some days. There’s days we want to forget about some of the races, but there are a lot of days that we know there are other teams questioning how we do what we do when we do it.”

Sammy Smith Advances In Xfinity Playoffs

JR Motorsports driver Sammy Smith edged Ryan Sieg by 0.177 second Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway to earn a berth in the Round of 8 in NASCAR’s Xfinity Series playoffs.

The Round of 8 will be determined next weekend at the Charlotte Roval. Entering the cutoff race the four drivers below the cutline are: Justin Allgaier, minus seven; Shane Van Gisbergen minus 10; Sam Mayer minus 13; and Parker Kligerman, minus 16.

Enfinger Secures Championship 4 Berth

Grant Enfinger narrowly defeated Taylor Gray by 0.041 second to earn a berth in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship four.

The series now takes a two-week break before the next race at Homestead. Entering the Homestead race, the drivers below the cutline are: Rajah Caruth, minus five; Gray, minus 13; Nick Sanchez, minus 20; and Tyler Ankrum, minus 23.

NASCAR Cup Series YellaWood 500

Talladega Superspeedway

Talladega, Alabama

Sunday's Results

1. (32) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 195.

2. (13) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 195.

3. (16) William Byron (P), Chevrolet, 195.

4. (12) Kyle Larson (P), Chevrolet, 195.

5. (30) Erik Jones, Toyota, 195.

6. (21) Christopher Bell (P), Toyota, 195.

7. (35) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 195.

8. (7) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 195.

9. (26) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 195.

10. (8) Denny Hamlin (P), Toyota, 195.

11. (24) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 195.

12. (34) Cody Ware, Ford, 195.

13. (15) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 195.

14. (37) Carson Hocevar #, Chevrolet, 195.

15. (17) Shane Van Gisbergen(i), Chevrolet, 195.

16. (23) Alex Bowman (P), Chevrolet, 195.

17. (20) Chris Buescher, Ford, 195.

18. (28) Corey LaJoie, Ford, 195.

19. (4) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 195.

20. (14) Tyler Reddick (P), Toyota, 195.

21. (39) Zane Smith #, Chevrolet, 195.

22. (38) BJ McLeod(i), Chevrolet, 195.

23. (3) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 194.

24. (33) Anthony Alfredo(i), Chevrolet, 194.

25. (22) Noah Gragson, Ford, 194.

26. (31) Daniel Suarez (P), Chevrolet, 194.

27. (40) JJ Yeley(i), Chevrolet, 193.

28. (25) AJ Allmendinger(i), Chevrolet, 193.

29. (11) Chase Elliott (P), Chevrolet, 190.

30. (36) Chase Briscoe (P), Ford, 189.

31. (29) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 188.

32. (2) Austin Cindric (P), Ford, Accident, 183.

33. (6) Joey Logano (P), Ford, Accident, 183.

34. (9) Harrison Burton, Ford, Accident, 183.

35. (18) Ryan Preece, Ford, Accident, 183.

36. (19) Josh Berry #, Ford, Accident, 183.

37. (1) Michael McDowell, Ford, Accident, 183.

38. (10) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, Accident, 183.

39. (5) Ryan Blaney (P), Ford, Accident, 124.

40. (27) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, Accident, 120.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 150.773 mph.

Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 26 Mins, 25 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.006 Seconds.

Caution Flags: 4 for 24 laps.

Lead Changes: 66 among 24 drivers.

Lap Leaders: M. McDowell 1-13;*. McLeod(i) 14;B. Keselowski 15;M. McDowell 16-38;J. Haley 39;R. Chastain 40-41;A. Bowman (P) 42;R. Chastain 43-47;D. Hemric 48;R. Chastain 49-51;K. Larson (P) 52;R. Chastain 53-57;R. Stenhouse Jr. 58-59;C. Buescher 60-62;B. Keselowski 63;W. Byron (P) 64;C. Buescher 65-66;T. Reddick (P) 67;C. Buescher 68-73;C. LaJoie 74-78;M. McDowell 79-82;R. Blaney (P) 83-87;S. Van Gisbergen(i) 88-90;R. Chastain 91;S. Van Gisbergen(i) 92;R. Blaney (P) 93;S. Van Gisbergen(i) 94-95;R. Chastain 96;S. Van Gisbergen(i) 97-99;J. Haley 100-102;A. Cindric (P) 103-116;C. Elliott (P) 117;A. Cindric (P) 118-122;T. Reddick (P) 123;K. Busch 124-129;B. Wallace 130;K. Busch 131;B. Wallace 132-133;C. Buescher 134;*. Allmendinger(i) 135;C. Ware 136;J. Logano (P) 137-141;*. Allmendinger(i) 142;J. Logano (P) 143-145;*. Allmendinger(i) 146-150;J. Logano (P) 151;A. Cindric (P) 152;J. Logano (P) 153-157;*. Allmendinger(i) 158;J. Logano (P) 159;A. Cindric (P) 160;J. Logano (P) 161;A. Cindric (P) 162;*. Allmendinger(i) 163;J. Logano (P) 164-166;A. Cindric (P) 167-168;A. Dillon 169;T. Gilliland 170-171;M. McDowell 172-173;A. Cindric (P) 174-175;R. Stenhouse Jr. 176-177;A. Cindric (P) 178;R. Stenhouse Jr. 179;A. Cindric (P) 180;R. Stenhouse Jr. 181-182;A. Cindric (P) 183;R. Stenhouse Jr. 184-195.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Michael McDowell 4 times for 42 laps; Austin Cindric (P) 10 times for 29 laps; Joey Logano (P) 7 times for 19 laps; Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 5 times for 19 laps; Ross Chastain 6 times for 17 laps; Chris Buescher 4 times for 12 laps; Shane Van Gisbergen(i) 4 times for 9 laps; * AJ Allmendinger(i) 5 times for 9 laps; Kyle Busch 2 times for 7 laps; Ryan Blaney (P) 2 times for 6 laps; Corey LaJoie 1 time for 5 laps; Justin Haley 2 times for 4 laps; Bubba Wallace 2 times for 3 laps; Brad Keselowski 2 times for 2 laps; Todd Gilliland 1 time for 2 laps; Tyler Reddick (P) 2 times for 2 laps; Alex Bowman (P) 1 time for 1 lap; Kyle Larson (P) 1 time for 1 lap; William Byron (P) 1 time for 1 lap; Austin Dillon 1 time for 1 lap; Daniel Hemric 1 time for 1 lap; Cody Ware 1 time for 1 lap; * BJ McLeod(i) 1 time for 1 lap; Chase Elliott (P) 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 17,47,24,5,20,45,1,14,2,12

Stage #2 Top Ten: 2,9,8,16,24,48,23,12,5,1

Updated Playoff Standings

Note: Championship field will be cut to eight drivers following the Bank of America Roval 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course on Oct. 13. None of the 12 drivers have earned a "free pass" into the Round of 8 for a win in the Round of 12.

William Byron 3,122

Christopher Bell 3,105

Kyle Larson 3,100

Denny Hamlin 3,078

Alex Bowman 3,074

Ryan Blaney 3,073

Tyler Reddick 3,062

Chase Elliott 3,061

Joey Logano 3,048

Daniel Suarez 3,041

Austin Cindric 3,032

Chase Briscoe 3,029