YellaWood 500 - Talladega Superspeedway
Talladega, Ala. - October 19, 2025
AUSTIN CINDRIC No. 2 DISCOUNT TIRE FORD MUSTANG DARK HORSE
START: 4TH
STAGE 1: 39TH
STAGE 2: 39TH
FINISH: 34TH
PLAYOFF POINTS: 14TH
RACE RUNDOWN: Austin Cindric started Sunday's YellaWood 500 from the fourth position after a strong qualifying run in the No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse at Talladega Superspeedway. Early on, the field ran four-wide at times, and Cindric found himself shuffling through the pack, running just outside the top 10 before settling into the second group as the field split in two during the opening Stage. With fuel strategies varying among teams, the pack stayed disorganized for much of the segment. With just over 10 laps remaining in Stage 1, Cindric came to pit road for a fuel-only stop, but moments later was collected in a major multi-car accident that brought heavy damage to the Discount Tire Mustang. The team took the car to the garage for extensive repairs and returned to the race with just over 15 laps to go. Cindric nursed the car to the finish to take the checkered flag in 34th place.
CINDRIC'S THOUGHTS: "It's unfortunate to have gotten caught up in that incident there before the end of Stage 1. We went through the first cycle and it didn't work out for us, I thought we did the right stuff there to get some Stage points, that's our priority. Yeah, so then it was just seeing whether we could get it fixed enough to go back out or not, but we had a steering rack issue so I couldn't drive it out and had to get towed back to the garage. The Discount Tire team did a great job with damage repair to get us back out there towards the end of the race."
RYAN BLANEY No. 12 MENARDS/DUTCH BOY FORD MUSTANG DARK HORSE
START: 8TH
STAGE 1: 4TH
STAGE 2: 8TH
FINISH: 23RD
PLAYOFF POINTS: 7TH (-47)
RACE RUNDOWN: Ryan Blaney and the No. 12 Menards/Dutch Boy Ford Mustang Dark Horse team produced a pair of top-10 stage finishes Sunday at Talladega but ultimately settled for a 23rd-place result following a green-white-checkered finish. After taking the green flag from the outside of row four, Blaney drifted to the back half of the field in the opening laps before making his way back towards the top-10 prior to the start of the pit cycle. Rising as high as second in the running order during the cycle, Blaney was called to pit road with the fifth set of cars for fuel only on lap 48, allowing him to blend into the rest of the field scored 15th with 10 laps remaining in Stage 1. Blaney avoided a multi-car incident at the front of the field in turn three a lap later, setting up a two-lap shootout to the end of the opening segment where he took the run in the outside lane to a fourth-place finish in Stage 1. The Menards/Dutch Boy Ford took the ensuing restart from 24th and charged to the front of the field with teammate Joey Logano as the two formed a third line on the bottom to reach fifth on the leaderboard in just one lap. During a scheduled green flag stop on lap 109, the No. 88 spun at pit entry to bring out the caution as Blaney was making his way off pit road to set up another sprint to the end of the stage. As the field lined up to take the green with four laps to go in the segment, Blaney held his line on the bottom of a two-wide battle before moving up top in the tri-oval on the final lap to come away with an eighth-place finish in Stage 2. A caution on lap 165 saw crew chief Jonathan Hassler make the call for fuel only as the 12 team won the race off pit road, allowing Blaney to take the restart from the inside of row one with 17 laps remaining. As the field formed three-wide in the first few laps of the run, Blaney was unable to get the push to clear him to the front of the field before a caution with two laps to go set up a green-white-checkered finish. After pitting one last time for fuel prior to the overtime restart, Blaney restarted 22nd and ultimately took the checkered flag 23rd at the conclusion of the two-lap battle. Blaney and the No. 12 team, winners of the previous two Martinsville fall races to advance to the Championship 4, enter the final race of the Round of 8 seventh in the playoff standings, 47 points below the elimination line.
BLANEY'S THOUGHTS: "Not the finish we wanted. We didn't do what we needed to do and we didn't get help when we needed it. Now we have to go win next week."
JOEY LOGANO No. 22 SHELL-PENNZOIL FORD MUSTANG DARK HORSE
START: 16TH
STAGE 1: 6TH
STAGE 2: 18TH
FINISH: 16TH
PLAYOFF POINTS: 6TH (-38)
RACE RUNDOWN: Joey Logano and the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse team led a race-high 35 laps Sunday at Talladega in what resulted in a 16th-place finish in the second race of the Round of 8. After starting 16th, Logano made up 14 spots in the first three laps and maintained his track position behind the leader during the opening run. As the green flag pit cycle began to take shape, crew chief Paul Wolfe called Logano to pit road with the third wave of cars on lap 46 for fuel only, allowing him to cycle to the second car in the bottom lane with 11 laps remaining in the stage. A multi-car incident unraveled right in front of Logano just two laps later, allowing him to take the lead and control the restart with two to go in the opening segment. The bottom lane didn't get the push it needed on the restart as Logano settled for a sixth-place result in Stage 1. After taking the ensuing restart from 23rd, Logano and teammate Ryan Blaney got together to form a third line on the bottom and charge to the front of the field, picking up 19 positions in one lap in the process. However, a caution on lap 112 during the green flag pit cycle forced Logano to come to pit road after several others already made their stops, leading to an 18th-place finish in Stage 2 following a four-lap dash to the stage end. Following a fuel only stop during the stage caution, Logano took the ensuing restart from the outside of row three and raced his way to the front of the field with 55 laps to go. A caution on lap 165 brought a majority of the field to pit road for fuel as Logano was second off pit road and lined up behind Blaney on the inside of row one with 17 laps remaining. The two Team Penske Fords were unable to get the push they needed to clear the outside lane at the front as the field formed three-wide with 12 to go, shuffling Logano to the back half of the pack. A caution with two to go set up an overtime restart as Logano hit pit road one last time for fuel prior to the green-white-checkered attempt but was unable to get any momentum towards the front before crossing the line 16th. Logano and the No. 22 team enter the final race of the Round of 8 at Martinsville sixth in the playoff standings, 38 points below the elimination line.
LOGANO'S THOUGHTS: "It's pretty apparent the second we lost control of the race. Cars were pulling in front of us and we were just getting demoted from the first two cars in line to the back of the line. Martinsville's not a bad track for us. We just have a simple point of view at this point, it's all or nothing. Stage points aren't going to matter. Nothing else is going to matter but winning."
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Martinsville Speedway for the Round of 8 finale of the NASCAR Playoffs on Sunday, October 26. Live coverage of the Xfinity 500 begins at 2:00 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN, and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.