The NASCAR Cup Series returned from its Easter break with a relatively clean drafting race at Talladega Superspeedway for the Jack Link’s 500.
Zane Smith started on the pole alongside Joey Logano, and the two led the field to green. By lap 5, the racing was already intense, with cars four-wide as drivers quickly shifted into fuel-saving mode. Logano controlled the pace early, leading a pack of Fords that included Ryan Preece, Josh Berry, Cole Custer, and Chris Buescher.
However, the complexion of the race changed on lap 28 when six Toyotas from Joe Gibbs Racing and 23XI formed a drafting alliance at the front, disrupting the Fords’ strategy. The pace quickened as the Toyotas asserted control, and by lap 41, the Toyota group pitted together for fuel.
Just a few laps later, as the Fords prepared to pit under green, Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski tangled while trying to slow up to enter pit road. The incident clipped Ryan Blaney and also involved Alex Bowman. Keselowski and Blaney were both knocked out of the race, marking Blaney’s fourth DNF of the season. Busch and Bowman suffered only cosmetic damage, but Busch immediately reported steering problems.
On the ensuing restart at lap 52, chaos struck again when Christopher Bell and Chris Buescher spun to the inside. Bell, who had been leading the outside lane, took a vicious head-on hit to the inside wall after being pushed by Denny Hamlin. His car swung across the inside lane, cleaning out Buescher and causing a choreographed slide of both cars toward the inside wall. Both Bell and Buescher were forced to retire from the race due to the damage. Hamlin expressed bewilderment on the radio considering they were not up to speed at the time and the push he gave Bell was nothing more than the usual bump drafting that gets lines started on a green flag.
Hamlin then took the lead on the restart and was in control with three laps to go in Stage 1. However, the Chevrolets rallied in the outside lane, and Kyle Larson edged out William Byron at the line to claim the stage win. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Chase Elliott followed in third and fourth.
Stage 2 began with William Byron taking the lead from Anthony Alfredo, who had stayed out during the stage break. Pit strategies shuffled the leaderboard, and by lap 110, green flag stops were underway. Among the penalties during this sequence, Chase Elliott and Shane van Gisbergen were both nabbed for speeding. Daniel Suarez missed his pit stall completely and was also penalized for speeding, while John Hunter Nemechek spun off pit road, though the race stayed green.
In the closing laps of Stage 2, Bubba Wallace found a gap and took advantage of a broken-up Ford line to take the stage victory. Joey Logano was heated on the radio, blaming teammate Austin Cindric for letting a Toyota win the stage. However, Logano failed to realize that he had caused the gap himself after pulling in front of Cindric during a signifcant run, forcing Cindric to check up to avoid wrecking him. Logano’s words would not age well by day’s end.
As the final stage unfolded, the Toyotas once again took control with Ty Gibbs leading. Green flag pit stops were delayed until around lap 170. During that cycle, JGR informed Hamlin they might have short-fueled him. Meanwhile, Josh Berry, Kyle Busch, and Cody Ware were penalized for speeding on pit road.
With 13 laps to go, the race reset for a final dash. Austin Cindric led a group of Hendrick Chevrolets on and off pit road, at which point Ross Chastain threw a key block to hold back the Toyotas. Ryan Preece and Joey Logano were lined up behind Cindric and Kyle Larson.
In a dramatic photo finish, Cindric edged Preece at the line to win the Jack Link’s 500, locking himself into the playoffs and delivering Team Penske its first guaranteed playoff berth of the season.
**Post-race inspections ended up reshaped the finishing order after both Ryan Preece and Joey Logano were disqualified — Preece for an extra shim in his spoiler and Logano for a missing bolt in his. As a result, all other drivers gained two finishing positions.
The final ‘adjusted’ top-10 finishers:
- Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford
- Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
- William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
- Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford
- Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
- Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
- Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
- Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota
- Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
- Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet