TALLADEGA, Ala. — One of the largest crashes in NASCAR Cup Series history came with five laps to go in Sunday’s (Oct. 6) YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. The wreck involved anywhere from 23 to 28 cars and derailed the days of half the playoff field while easing pressure on those who managed to avoid it.
The incident began as the pack worked its way by the lapped car of Todd Gilliland on the backstretch on lap 185. A little side-to-side movement led to an off-center push from Brad Keselowski to Austin Cindric, causing the No. 2 car to spin directly in front of the field.
“The No. 38 (Gilliland) blended on the track from the bottom, which is where the Ford lane was, and when he did, it tore the Ford lane apart, and a rubber band snapped down the backstretch,” Keselowski said of the wreck post-race. “I caught back up to the No. 2 (Cindric) car, had to check up, the No. 22 (Joey Logano) got in the back of me and pushed me through the No. 2 and it just wadded everybody up.
“I don’t really think Joey did anything wrong, I don’t really think Austin did anything wrong; real unfortunate circumstances.”
Cindric, who entered Talladega well below the playoff cutline, had ran up front all day and earned 12 stage points. In a matter of seconds, he went from a contender to win, clinching a spot in the Round of 8, to a 29-point deficit that leaves him in desperation mode heading to the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL next weekend.
“I don’t really feel like doing a whole lot of complaining about what happened or whose fault it is, it doesn’t really matter,” Cindric said. “It puts us in a must-win situation for the Charlotte ROVAL, and we’ve brought some exceptionally fast race cars every single race in the playoffs, and I cannot understate how proud I am of my race team.
“We’ll have to bring another [fast car] next week.”
Cindric wound up 32nd, just ahead of Penske teammate Joey Logano. The driver of the No. 22 entered Talladega as the last driver above the cutline, but after finishing 33rd, he’s now 13 points behind it.
The two-time Cup champ echoed the frustrations of many concerning this style of racing having such an outsized outcome on the playoff race.
“I didn’t even have fun today,” Logano said.
Chase Briscoe made little headway toward the Round of 8, but he was running inside the top 10 when the…
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