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Winners, losers after NASCAR Cup playoff race at Talladega

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Winners, losers after NASCAR Cup playoff race at Talladega

A look at the winners and losers from Sunday’s Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway.

Winners

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. — He snapped a 65-race winless streak with his victory at Talladega. Stenhouse has won races in back-to-back seasons for the first time in his Cup career. He moved from 27th to 24th in the points.

Stenhouse knew Talladega was ‘one of ours to win’

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. knew Talladega was “one of ours” to win and did just that while also looking forward to helping support Hurricane Helene relief efforts after a “special” win.

Fans who like parity — Ricky Stenhouse Jr. became the 18th different winner this season. The record for most different winners in a season during the modern era is 19, which happened in 2001 and 2022.

Fans who like parity, part 2 — Ricky Stenhouse Jr. became the ninth different winner this season to snap a winless streak of 42 or more races. That’s the most ever in a season. Others who broke long winless streaks this season: Brad Keselowski (110 races), Chase Briscoe (93), Austin Cindric (85), Alex Bowman (80), Austin Dillon (68), Daniel Suarez (57), Joey Logano (49) and Chase Elliott (42). Harrison Burton scored his first Cup win in his 98th career start.

Fans who like parity, part 3 — Ricky Stenhouse Jr. became the ninth different winner in the last nine races at Talladega — the longest streak in the track’s history. Those other winners were Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Bubba Wallace, Ross Chastain, Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick and Stenhouse.

Kyle Larson — His fourth-place finish snapped a streak of 14 consecutive races at drafting tracks that he had failed to finish in the top 10.

Larson collects second top five on a superspeedway

Kyle Larson gets his second top five of his career on a superspeedway after coming home fourth at Talladega and feels today showed his team’s execution to secure a great finish on a track that has not been kind.

Erik Jones — He finished a season-best fifth. It was his first top-10 result since placing eighth in the season-opening Daytona 500.

Justin Haley — He finished a season-best seventh. It came in his second race since rejoining Spire Motorsports.

Denny Hamlin — He was running 32nd and was set to be below the cutline before the 23-car crash that sent the race into overtime. Hamlin finished 10th and is fourth in the points — 30 points above the cutline — heading into this weekend’s elimination race at the Charlotte Roval.

Highlights: Cup Series playoff race at Talladega

Watch highlights from the NASCAR Cup Series YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Losers

Michael McDowell — Pole-sitter was collected in a crash and placed 37th. He’s won five poles this season at drafting tracks and his average finish in those races is 25.6.

Austin Cindric — He was running at the front when contact turned him, triggering the 23-car crash that sent the race into overtime. He finished 32nd and is 29 points below the cutline going to the Charlotte Roval.

Talladega ‘Big One’ collects nearly entire field

The ‘Big One’ at Talladega strikes with five laps to go after Austin Cindric gets a push from Brad Keselowski, and it is the biggest ‘Big One’ documented in NASCAR history with 28 cars involved.

Ryan Blaney — Wrong place, wrong time. He was collected in a crash and finished 39th. He has been eliminated by an accident in four of the last seven races.

Blaney, Chastain absorb big hits at end of Stage 2

Alex Bowman gives Ryan Blaney a shove in the trioval coming to the end of Stage 2 at Talladega, and the No. 12 absorbs an enormous hit from both the outside wall and Ross Chastain.

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