NASCAR

NASCAR Cup Series Fans Respond To Opportunistic Austin Cindric Earning Jack Link’s 500 Title At Talladega

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Jeff Hawkins
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Jeff Hawkins Sports Editor

Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry, in both print and digital media. He ed the Sportscasting team in 2021 following a decade of freelancing. He spent his early career as a reporter for various newspapers in Illinois, New York, Florida, North Carolina, and Michigan, with a particular emphasis as a beat reporter for the Chicago Blackhawks. Jeff earned his bachelor's degree in journalism from Oakland University. Over the course of his career he earned several sports writing awards, including two national awards from the Associated Press Sports Editors for column writing and news reporting. One of the five prized columns included a commentary on Get to know Jeff Hawkins better

Sports Editor

Published27 Apr 2025

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During the NASCAR Cup Series event at Atlanta Motor Speedway in February, Austin Cindric battled Kyle Larson in the closing laps. Larson ended up taking out Cindric along the backstretch. 

Not known for his superspeedway prowess, Larson escaped with a P3 and took the blame for the incident. 

On Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway, Cindric again battled Larson, who trailed the No. 2 Ford on the inside lane. This time, Larson helped draft Cindric into Victory Lane.  

On the outside, Ryan Preece raced next to Cindric and fell short by about three feet of earning the Jack Link’s 500 title. Cindric’s last-lap marked the 33rd time an event was decided on the final rotation at Dega. 

Cindric thanked Larson for racing him clean. 

“It definitely wasn’t easy,” Cindric told Fox Sports. “I give a lot of credit, Kyle did a lot to take care of me, pushing me at the right times in the tri-oval. 

“As mad as I was at him after Atlanta, I feel like we’re good now.” 

Qualifying for the playoffs with his third win in 125 Cup starts, Cindric became the 18th pilot to end a winless streak of at least 30 outings at the 2.66-mile track. The winning move developed during the final green-flag pit stop when the Team Penske pit crew orchestrated a break-out stop that put the 26-year-old pilot back in the lead with 17 laps remaining. The Mooresville, North Carolina, organization won for the first time this season. 

“I’m just so proud of this team from the (pit) cycles to the fast cars to the fuel-only stops,” Cindric said.  

Twenty-three drivers ed 67 lead changes Sunday. 

“Having a photo-finish at Talladega … that was great,” Cindric said. 

X (Twitter) s responded to the sights, sounds and experience of Talladega … 

Dega large … 

Drama highlighted Saturday’s action at the historic track as Austin Hill earned the photo-finish win after Jesse Love took out his best friend, Connor Zilisch, on the final lap … 

One year after narrowly missing out on a Craftsman Truck Series title at ‘Dega, driver Lawless Alan earned his first ARCA Menards Series win … 

  when? …. 

Going green at Talladega in the sprint time … 

By winning Stage 1, Larson became the circuit’s all-time stage win leader with 67 … 

Bubba Wallace secured the 10 Stage-2 points, helping him move up one spot into seventh place of the drivers’ standings, 93 points behind leader William Byron … 

Known as a speedway ace, Cindric, the 2022 Daytona 500 champion, earned his first title in seven attempts at Talladega …  

Preece’s P2 was his career-best finish, attempting to put his best philosophical spin on the shortcoming: “The right holes open at the right time, but ultimately 22-hundredths short” … 

Here is a look at the driver standings following Sunday’s race …  

Dega strong … 

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Jeff Hawkins
Sports Editor

Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry, in both print and digital media. He ed the Sportscasting team in 2021 following a decade of freelancing. He spent his early career as a reporter for various newspapers in Illinois, New York, Florida, North Carolina, and Michigan, with a particular emphasis as a beat reporter for the Chicago Blackhawks. Jeff earned his bachelor's degree in journalism from Oakland University. Over the course of his career he earned several sports writing awards, including two national awards from the Associated Press Sports Editors for column writing and news reporting. One of the five prized columns included a commentary on Get to know Jeff Hawkins better

Author photo
Jeff Hawkins Sports Editor

Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry, in both print and digital media. He ed the Sportscasting team in 2021 following a decade of freelancing. He spent his early career as a reporter for various newspapers in Illinois, New York, Florida, North Carolina, and Michigan, with a particular emphasis as a beat reporter for the Chicago Blackhawks. Jeff earned his bachelor's degree in journalism from Oakland University. Over the course of his career he earned several sports writing awards, including two national awards from the Associated Press Sports Editors for column writing and news reporting. One of the five prized columns included a commentary on All posts by Jeff Hawkins