NASCAR: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wins at Talladega after record-breaking accident

A non-playoff driver won a NASCAR Cup Series race for the second consecutive year.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. defeated Brad Keselowski in an overtime photo finish after the worst accident in NASCAR history.

Stenhouse got a push from William Byron to get past Keselowski in the trioval. Keselowski, a six-time winner at Talladega, couldn’t get enough momentum from Kyle Larson behind him to get past Stenhouse before the finish line.

With less than five planned laps to go, a violent accident wiped out almost all of the front runners in the field. Austin Cindric was leading the final race when he was spun before everyone else before Turn 3 when Joey Logano gave Keselowski a push on Cindric.

Keselowski and Stenhouse escaped unscathed as they were able to avoid the wreckage.

The accident was simply the byproduct of what happens at the end of Superspeedway races in the Cup Series these days. The drivers know that they have to push each other to overtake. And if a bump on a driver’s bumper isn’t right, chaos can ensue.

“I don’t think there’s much we could have done differently,” Logano said of the bottom row riders’ pushing.

Officially, 28 drivers were involved in the accident.

It is the first win for Stenhouse since winning the Daytona 500 in 2023. All four Cup Series victories in his career have come at either Daytona or Talladega, and it is his second win for the JTG-Daugherty Racing single-car team.

Next week’s race at the Charlotte Roval (2 p.m. ET, NBC) is the final race in the second round of the playoffs. Four of the twelve playoff drivers are eliminated after the race and Byron is the only driver who has already secured a place in the round of eight.

NASCAR Cup Series playoff standings

1. William Byron | won the round of 8

2. Christopher Bell | +57

3.Kyle Larson | +52

4. Denny Hamlin | +30

5. Alex Bowman | +26

6. Ryan Blaney | +25

7. Tyler Reddick | +14

8. Chase Elliott | + 13

————————————— cutting line

9. Joey Logano | -13

10. Daniel Suarez | -20

11. Austin Cindric | -29

12. Chase Briscoe | -32

Places 9-12 will be eliminated after next week’s race at the Charlotte Roval.

YellaWood 500 results

1. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

2. Brad Keselowski

3. William Byron

4.Kyle Larson

5. Eric Jones

6. Christopher Bell

7. Justin Haley

8. Austin Dillon

9. Bubba Wallace

10. Denny Hamlin

11. Martin Truex Jr.

12. Cody Ware

13. Ty Gibbs

14. Carson, however

15. Shane van Gisbergen

16. Alex Bowman

17. Chris Buescher

18. Corey LaJoie

19. Kyle Busch

20. Tyler Reddick

21. Zane Smith

22. BJ McLeod

23. Todd Gilliland

24. Anthony Alfredo

25. Noah Gragson

26. Daniel Suarez

27. JJ Yeley

28. AJ Allmendinger

29. Chase Elliott

30. Chase Briscoe

31. John Hunter Nemechek

32. Austin Cindric

33. Joey Logano

34. Harrison Burton

35. Ryan Preece

36. Josh Berry

37. Michael McDowell

38. Daniel Hemric

39. Ryan Blaney

40. Ross Chastain