Ricky Stenhouse Jr. got the late help he needed from his fellow Chevrolet drivers Sunday.
The 37-year-old from Olive Branch, Miss., edged out Brad Keselowksi in NASCAR overtime at Talladega Superspeedway, winning the Cup Series’ YellaWood 500 in a photo finish in Talladega, Ala.
Following a lengthy red-flag period, Stenhouse led Keselowski on the restart, but Keselowski pulled ahead in Turn 3 on the final lap.
However, William Byron’s hard push gave Stenhouse the momentum he needed in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing car to beat Keselowski by 0.006 of a second for his fourth career win and first since the 2023 Daytona 500.
“I felt really good. We had our Chevy teammates (Byron and Kyle Busch) behind us,” said Stenhouse, who broke a 65-race winless streak. “It’s been an up-and-down season just doing a lot of hard work to find some speed.”
Byron’s third-place finish advanced him to the Round of 8. Kyle Larson and Erik Jones rounded out the top five.
After manufacturer-oriented pit stops with 20 laps left, Austin Cindric and Stenhouse topped the field, but the Big One happened on Lap 184 for the fourth caution and a red-flag condition.
Race leader Cindric, who opened the day in last among the dozen title pursuers, was shoved by Keselowski’s Ford, which had been tapped by Joey Logano in a chain reaction of multiple cars bumping to trigger the backstretch chaos.
The 28-car accident, the largest ever at Talladega in Cup history, also involved championship hopefuls Chase Elliott, Chase Briscoe, Alex Bowman, Tyler Reddick and Daniel Suarez.
Reigning series champ Ryan Blaney wrecked at the end of Stage 2 and finished 39th, saddled with his seventh DNF of 2024.
“It wasn’t a push. More of him just driving through me,” Blaney said of Bowman’s rough contact with his No. 12 Ford near the flagstand.
In the second race of the postseason Round of 12, Suarez was lapped early and quickly lost positions in the draft. The No. 99 driver tried to squeeze into the high lane, was clipped by the No. 78 of BJ McLeod and spun untouched on the backstretch.
With 10 circuits left on the 2.66-mile superspeedway in 60-lap Stage 1, Chris Buescher’s No. 17 Ford found the front and edged Stenhouse, Byron and Larson for the top bonus points as the field kept the racing clean.
As Cindric’s No. 2 Team Penske Ford won the 10 bonus points in Stage 2, a significant development occurred with his two teammates, Blaney and Logano, on Lap 122.
After being nudged by Bowman, Blaney’s No. 12 bounced off Shane van Gisbergen on the inside, angled right and headed nose-first into the frontstretch wall in a hard crash.
Blaney’s wreck was terminal and collected Ross Chastain, whose No. 1 Chevrolet caught fire in Turn 1. Logano, Denny Hamlin and Reddick were also hit with damage.
–Field Level Media
