Cindric Wins DEGA!

Austin Cindric Celebrates his win in the Jack Link's 500 at Talladega Superspeedway Sunday afternoon. (Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

Jack Link's 500:

Austin Cindric won Sunday's Jack Link's 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. The win was Cindric's first of the 2025 campaign, his first at the Alabama race track, and his third career win. Cindric beat out Ryan Preece by roughly half a car length at the line for the win (although Preece as well as Joey Logano were later DQ'd). Cindric, who throughout his entire career, has been a force on drafting tracks, was finally able to get back to victory lane on those types of tracks after plenty of solid runs and close calls for the checkered flag since his first win in the 2022 Daytona 500. Sunday's win will lock him into the 2025 playoffs and with his consistency and Talladega being in the Round of 8, I wouldn't rule out a Championship 4 appearance for Cindric although it is too early to really hone in on that conversation just yet for the driver of the #2 Penske Ford.

The race was, overall, meh. It wasn't the worst drafting track race I have seen, but it wasn't the best. And drafting races at Daytona and Talladega still leave a lot to be desired with the Gen-7 car and NASCAR seems to be in no rush to make any changes because all they see is side-by-side racing and lead changes. And while to the casual or new fan, it does look cool. And I prefer the side-by-side racing to the old single file days. It's all faux racing. They're side-by-side because they really can't run single file, there is no ability for a single car to make any difference or runs especially with the single car speeds being so drastically different than any draft racing, and the "lead changes" are manufactured as hell. It's usually just the top two guys swapping the lead at the line or pit strategy and pit cycle lead changes. There are not many "true" lead changes based off of what most fans come to know from Daytona and Talladega. And when compared to what we saw on Sunday to what the Xfinity did on Saturday is just appalling that NASCAR is so locked onto the Gen 7 platform with minimal changes. I guess we are at the point that they want us at: depressed submission to their rule no matter how many fans it disappoints.

Either way, we did see a tiny bit of action and pit strategy chaos come into play near the end. Ross Chastain's ballsy block of the field, while shuffling what I thought was going to be an interesting finish, did bunch every back up and allowed the Ford's of Preece and Cindric to control the lead spots of both lanes. At this point and with nobody able to make any challenges for the lead (or challenges for any spots) I knew we were going to see a close finish between the #2 and #60 cars. (That is when FOX wasn't at commericial on Sunday). Cindric and his entire team were flawless on Sunday and him being the draft master he is was able to generate enough speed and timed his moves against Preece perfectly to snag the checkered flag.

Next up we head to Texas Motor Speedway with all three National Touring Series in action this weekend. The Craftsman Truck Series kicks the weekend off on Friday evening at 8 p.m. EST with the Speedycash.com 250 on FS1. The Xfinity Series folks take to the track Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. EST on The CW with the Andy's Frozen Custard 300. The Cup Series wraps up the weekend on Sunday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. EST on FS1 with the Wurth 400. Be sure to tune in and catch the action all weekend!

Texas Picks:

Truck = Corey Heim

Xfinity = Kyle Larson

Cup = William Byron