Ricky Stenhouse Jr. broke a 66-race winless streak on Sunday, (Oct. 6) winning the YellaWood 500 at Talladega in a photo finish.
A push on the final lap from William Byron was all Stenhouse needed to edge Brad Keselowski for the victory by .006 seconds.
Keselowski, Byron, Kyle Larson, Erik Jones, Christopher Bell, Justin Haley, Austin Dillon, Bubba Wallace and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top 10.
After a penalty for unapproved adjustments, Daniel Suarez was forced to serve a pass-through penalty on lap 1.
The field got three-wide early, with polesitter Michael McDowell taking an early lead.
As the field came up to lap Suarez on lap 12, Suarez attempted to stay in the middle of the pack. However, contact with the outside wall and BJ McLeod sent the No. 99 spinning into the turn 3 grass and limping back to pit road with flat tires.
The majority of the field opted to pit after the early yellow, with those that stayed out initially pitting with one lap to go in the caution period.
McDowell cleared Keselowski for the lead on lap 18, with the pack once more forming into three lanes almost immediately. With a Wonder Bread scheme alluding to Ricky Bobby, Ryan Preece took the lead for a brief moment on lap 22, battling with McDowell and Kyle Busch for the top spot. Todd Gilliland pushed McDowell back to the lead on lap 23.
Justin Haley knifed his way through the field early, moving up to lead the third lane by lap 30. A fourth lane soon formed, which Haley jumped down to lead as Ross Chastain and Kyle Larson cut through the middle. Haley cleared McDowell for the lead on lap 39, with Chastain and Austin Cindric battling right beside him.
Larson pushed Chastain to the lead on lap 41, with the rest of the pack being four-wide multiple rows deep. After intentionally fading early in the race, Denny Hamlin finally made an appearance, briefly pushing Daniel Hemric – the leader of the fourth lane – to the lead on lap 43.
The lead pack thinned out with 10 laps to go in the stage, with some drivers opting to drift back and avoid a potential accident. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. briefly jumped to the lead on lap 59, with Larson in tow.
With the help of a huge push from Tyler Reddick, Chris Buescher cleared Stenhouse Jr. for the stage one victory, with William Byron, (third) Larson, (fourth) Christopher Bell, (fifth) Tyler Reddick, (sixth) Chase Briscoe, (eighth) Austin Cindric (ninth) and Blaney (10th) being the playoff drivers…
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