The Big 2? Austin Cindric Wins Talladega NASCAR Cup Series Race

There was no “big one” at Talladega this year, just a big No. 2. as Austin Cindric beat Ryan Preece nose.

It was an unusually clean race for the superspeedway, with the only two cautions for accidents coming in Stage 1, each involving just a handful of cars.

Kyle Larson won the stage, which was the first time he had done that at the track, and Bubba Wallace took an uneventful Stage 2.

The final stage came down to pitstop strategy and execution. The Toyotas came in first with Chevy driver Carson Hocevar joining them and leading the pack out of the pits, but the Fords that followed exited in with lead and the Chevys filtered into the mix after their stops.

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Cindric had the quickest stop and took the lead on lap 182 of the 188 lap race. Preece joined him on the front row with Hendrick Motorsports drivers Kyle Larson and William Byron lined up behind them.

It stayed that way until the finish when the pack caught up to some backmarker cars that may have given Cindric, who was being pushed by Larson, the extra draft he needed to pull ahead of Preece for the win.

“I’m just so proud of this team, from the cycles to the fast cars to the fuel only stops, Doug, my spotter, everybody, I’ve been trying for probably three, four years now to get a Cup win for John Menard and Mendard’s [his car’s sponsor] and that bright yellow car looks great up front,” Cindric said on Fox after the race.

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Cindric praised Larson’s driving after he was wrecked by him in the closing laps of this year’s spring race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. “As mad as I was at him after Atlanta, I feel like we’re good now,” Cindric said.