Penske, Cindric get first official Cup win of 2025 at Talladega

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Austin Cindric and his crew executed the final stage perfectly to net Team Penske’s first official NASCAR Cup Series points win of 2025.

Cindric’s crew reeled off the fastest pit stop under the final sequence. Cindric also credited a push from Kyle Larson with getting him to victory lane.

“Me and Kyle had that thing at Atlanta but he was pushing me and never let up so I guess he’s even,” Cindric said.

Cindric, Larson, William Byron, Noah Gragson, Chase Elliott, Carson Hocevar, Alex Bowman, Bubba Wallace, Daniel Suarez and Austin Dillon were the top-10 finishers.

Larson and Wallace won the first two stages, with Larson leading all drivers in total stage points earned Sunday.

STAGE 1 TOP-10 (LAP 60): Larson, Byron, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Elliott, Wallace, Denny Hamlin, AJ Allmendinger, Cody Ware, Riley Herbst, Ty Dillon.

The first stage featured two cautions, taking out key players in the race. The first caution saw a wreck that took out Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski as they came to pit road.

The second caution saw a bad bump by Denny Hamlin spin teammate Christopher Bell. Bell collected Keselowski’s driver and teammate, Chris Buescher, knocking them out of the race.

In stage two, Anthony Alfredo restarted up front and led the most laps for the No. 62 car since Old Dominion Raceway in 1958.

Ultimately, Alfredo pitted by himself and fell back but worked his way back into the top-20 by the final stage, along with William Byron. Steering issues forced Byron to bail out of the pack late in stage two and pit early under caution.

Up front, Wallace claimed the ten points and a stage win, which left Logano upset at Cindric, his teammate.

“Way to go Austin, way to go, you dumbf-ck! Way to f-cking go. What a stupid s-it. You just gave it to him. Gave a Toyota a stage win. Nice job. Way to go. What a dumba–. Put that in the book again,” Logano said.

STAGE 2 TOP-10 (LAP 120): Wallace, Larson, Cindric, Hocevar, Tyler Reddick, Todd Gilliland, Zane Smith, Josh Berry, Justin Haley, AJ Allmendinger.

The final stage saw Toyota take the lead with Ty Gibbs leading a race-high 32 laps.

Toyota seemed to have the strategy figured out until Ross Chastain pulled a big block on them that killed their momentum. Behind Wallace in 10th, on the lead lap, Tyler Reddick, Chase Briscoe, Ty Gibbs, Erik Jones, Denny Hamlin and Riley Herbst finished 16th, 17th, 19th, 20th, 23rd and 24th, respectively.

Josh Berry and Kyle Busch each had a speeding penalty during their final pit stop. The lead pack caught up to them at the finish, aiding Cindric the most with a draft.