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Thinkin’ Out Loud at Talladega: The Clock Strikes Midnight for Playoff Cinderellas

What Happened?

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. barely beat Brad Keselowski and William Byron to the line in a thrilling three-wide overtime finish by a mere 0.006 seconds at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, Oct. 6 to earn his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of 2024.

Following closely behind the trio were Kyle Larson and Erik Jones to round out the top five.

The victory is the fourth in Stenhouse’s career and third ever for JTG Daugherty Racing. It also marks the 18th different Cup Series winner of 2024.

See also
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Wins at Talladega in Photo Finish

What Really Happened?

Despite there still being one race left in the Round of 12, for the likes of playoff underdogs Chase Briscoe and Austin Cindric, their championship hopes are practically over in 2024.

The duo entered the event in a points deficit but had high hopes of leaving the state of Alabama in at least a position that didn’t involve a must-win scenario heading into the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL.

And for a good chunk of the event, they were doing a pretty solid job.

Both Cindric and Briscoe had scored stage points early on and seemed to be putting themselves in a position to leave the 2.66-mile track with a realistic shot to make the Round of 8. For Cindric, who had won stage two and was trading position with the lead in the closing laps of the race, the chance of advancing into the next round with a win right then and there was entirely real. In fact, for most of the event, many likely considered him a favorite to win.

Then, with four laps to go and the lead and possibly the win in his grasp, he got a shove from Brad Keselowski that didn’t quite hit right.

It was statistically the largest crash in Cup Series history with a grand total of 28 cars involved, and it could not have arrived at a worse time for the two Ford drivers trying to keep their championship hopes alive.

Cindric’s day was over almost immediately. Briscoe, however, would have to endure a stream of confusion from the safety team of whether to tow or not to tow the No. 14 out of infield — a decision that would put the Hoosier native out of the race and behind the wall.

The result was the two playoff Cinderella stories all but striking midnight by the end of the day. Both Cindric and Briscoe left the venue 11th and 12th, respectively, at least 29 points below the cut line. It’s not mathematically impossible for either driver to make up that gap in points, but it’s also unlikely and will require some extreme luck.

There is always a chance one of the two can still win their way in at the ROVAL, but the statistics are grim. Out of the five combined Cup starts the two share at the hybrid road course, only one of them resulted in a finish higher than 20th. Their competition next week will include a number of drivers that have been successful at the circuit in the past. Additionally, next week will also include a certain Kiwi driver that was half a lap away from victory at Watkins Glen International a few weeks ago.

But that doesn’t mean it was all doom and gloom.

Who Stood Out?

Despite his somber end of the race, for the first 184 of the completed 195 laps, the No. 2 of Cindric was the hero Team Penske needed him to be.

Cindric led a total of 29 laps, which doesn’t sound like much, but after 24 different leaders exchanged the top spot, the No. 2 ended up leading the second-most laps of the afternoon. That goes without mentioning his stage two victory.

However, he certainly couldn’t have done it without the help of his Penske teammates, who also came together to lead a combined 25 laps throughout the day.

While other teams and manufacturers try to come together, Penske does always seem to find a way to work together better than any other team at superspeedway races.

Who Fell Flat?

You might have noticed I didn’t mention another certain playoff underdog earlier.

Daniel Suarez‘s day didn’t start off the way he had wanted, and it only got worse from there.

The Trackhouse Racing playoff hopeful received a penalty over the weekend that forced the team to perform a drive-through on pit lane at the drop of the green flag for the event. The result was the Mexican racer losing the draft and in danger of going a lap down early on – an issue he would at least have the whole race to attempt to recitfy.

However, once the field caught him, he caused the first caution of the day.

The damage forced the No. 99 team to limp around the track for a painful next few hours trying to gain any positions and points they could.

Gain points they did, but the result still ends with the team 20 points below the playoff cut line — a similar situation to the aforementioned Briscoe and Cindric.

Better Than Last Time?

Sunday felt like Talladega, but also seemed to go further beyond.

Just like any superspeedway race, the field was packed up and racing side-by-side for most of the event. However, the Cup Series drivers seemed more aggressive than in recent memory. At one point, with only a handful of laps to go in stage one, the field looked something like the four-wide thriller of the fall of 2012.

Only this time, it didn’t end with a wreck like the one that has been memed over and over for the last decade. In fact, the field stayed clean all the way to the end of the first stage.

And it was so much fun.

Folks watching at home will never truly know how difficult it is to drive 190-plus mph in a four-wide lane around for hours on end, nor would they want to.

Yet that’s what these drivers do all the time, and today we were reminded of their talent by the sheer fact that they were able to not crash for so long. That’s something we haven’t seen out of Talladega or any other superspeedway in some time.

Plus, you simply can’t beat that view.

See also
Drivers, Teams Leave Laundry List of Complaints About Car & Procedures After Talladega

Paint Scheme of the Race

At some point in recent years, Talladega became one of the more popular venues for teams to host special one-off paint schemes. This weekend was no different.

There were a number of special schemes this weekend that we hadn’t seen before, and while it wasn’t the talk of the social media town this past week, Suarez’s hot pink and black Tootsie’s livery deserves an honorable mention.

But those aren’t the colors that had the fans talking. For the second straight year in the fall Talladega race, the Wonder Bread colors of Ricky Bobby took center stage while adorning the Ford of Ryan Preece.

And like last year, it came complete with hilarious social media content.

It’s not an exact copy of the iconic Talladega Nights scheme like last year, but it pays homage with its white base and yellow number font. Plus, hot rod flames look so darn good on any racecar.

It’s a shame that with the closure of Stewart-Haas Racing, it’s likely we won’t see a repeat of the livery in 2025, so let’s enjoy it while we can.

What’s Next?

The Round of 12 for the Cup Series playoffs comes to an end at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL. The Bank of America ROVAL 400 will be presented live on NBC on Sunday, Oct. 13 at 2 p.m. ET.

Dalton Hopkins began writing for Frontstretch in April 2021. Currently, he is the lead writer for the weekly Thinkin' Out Loudcolumn, co-host of the Happy Hour podcast, and one of our lead reporters. Beforehand, he wrote for IMSA shortly after graduating from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2019. Simultaneously, he also serves as a Captain in the US Army.

Follow Dalton on Twitter @PitLaneCPT

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