Winners, losers after the NASCAR Cup playoff race at Talladega

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

winner

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – With his victory at Talladega, he ended a 65-race winning streak. Stenhouse has won races in back-to-back seasons for the first time in his Cup career. He improved in the points from 27th to 24th place.

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

Fans Who Like Parity, Part 2 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. became the ninth different winner this season to end a winning streak of 42 or more races. This is more than ever before in a season. Others who broke long winning 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 ended a streak of 14 consecutive draft races in which he had failed to finish in the top ten.

Erik Jones – He took fifth place as the best of the season. It was his first top-10 finish since eighth place in the season-opening Daytona 500.

Justin Haley – He finished a season-best seventh place. It was his second race since returning to Spire Motorsports.

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

loser

Michael McDowell — The pole-sitter was collected in a crash and finished 37th. He has won five poles at draft tracks this season and his average finish in those races is 25.6.

Austin Cindric – He was in the lead when contact spun him, triggering the 23-car accident that sent the race into overtime. He finished 32nd, 29 points below the cutline for Charlotte Roval.

Ryan Blaney – Wrong place, wrong time. He was collected in a crash and finished 39th. He retired from four of the last seven races due to an accident.