The NASCAR Cup Series visited Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday afternoon in the Jack Link’s 500. Front Row Motorsports driver Zane Smith started the race on the pole with Richard Childress Racing driver Kyle Busch starting in second.
In Stage 1, there were two cautions. The first caution happened on lap 43 when Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch made contact and spun at the entrance of pit road with Keselowski hitting Ryan Blaney. Chris Buescher and Alex Bowman also suffered damage to their cars.
Shortly after the race restarted on lap 53, Christopher Bell got pushed by Denny Hamlin, causing him to spin on the backstretch before hitting Chris Buescher.
Several drivers led during stage one including Zane Smith, Josh Berry, Joey Logano, Ryan Preece, Michael McDowell, Kyle Busch, Chase Briscoe, Daniel Suarez, Bubba Wallace, and Kyle Larson. Larson led the final three laps to win the stage. In Stage 2, There were no cautions and Bubba Wallace led the final lap to win the stage.
In the final stage, the race came down to Austin Cindric, Kyle Larson, Ryan Preece, and William Bryon. Heading into the final corner, there were a couple of lapped-down cars ahead of Cindric and he was able to beat Ryan Preece to the line by 0.022 seconds to win his first race since World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway in June 2024.
The rest of the top ten finishers were Kyle Larson third, William Byron fourth, Joey Logano fifth, Noah Gragson sixth, Chase Elliott seventh, Carson Hocevar eighth, Alex Bowman ninth, and Bubba Wallace tenth.
The Cup Series heads to Texas Motor Speedway next Sunday at 3:30 pm on FS1. Purchase NASCAR Cup Series tickets today at StubHub.
