By Miguel Mike Medina
Photo Credit: Action Sports Photography Inc.
The 37-year-old Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won the NASCAR Cup Series YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. It was a dramatic finish.
The race between Stenhouse Jr. and Brad Keselowski was close in the final lap. Stenhouse Jr. barely edged Keselowski by 0.006 seconds.
Talladega Superspeedway did not disappoint and lived up to its expectations. There were car crashes and intense battles, and the race lasted over time.
The NASCAR Cup Playoffs continue to be more of an asset than a liability for the sport. Whether you like or don’t like the format, the playoffs in NASCAR have been phenomenal, mainly for this season.
At one point during the race, there was an accident involving 23 cars, with five laps remaining.
Stenhouse’s win at Talladega marked his fourth career Trophy, and this is his first since winning the 2023 Daytona 500. Today, he made Mississippi proud, and he let it be known.
It’s a remarkable victory for Stenhouse. He beat an excellent driver in six-time Talladega winner Keselowski. Also, he beat out William Byron, who won the Daytona 500 this year.
Austin Cindric was leading the race at one point. It looked like he had a great opportunity to win, but Keselowski hit him from behind. Cindric represents Team Penske and finished 32nd in the race. His teammate, Joey Logano, finished 33rd.
Cindric and Logano are frustrated with the results and how everything turned out. They are two fierce competitors who hate losing.
Regular season champion Tyler Reddick and Alex Bowman were also involved in the 23-car accident. Reddick finished 20th, while Bowman finished 16th place.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell finished sixth in the race.
Only one more race remains in this round to settle, and eight drivers advance to the next round of championship competition.
The final race of the Round of 12 is next Sunday, the Bank of America ROVAL 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course.
Miguel Mike Medina is a publisher of The MMM Journal. He can be reached at medinamiguelmike@gmail.com
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