Jack Link’s 500
Talladega, Ala. – April 26, 2026
AUSTIN CINDRIC No. 2 MENARDS/FROGTAPE FORD MUSTANG DARK HORSE
START: 13TH STAGE 1: 35TH STAGE 2: 21ST FINISH: 8TH POINTS: 16TH
RACE RUNDOWN: Austin Cindric finished eighth in Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway after a challenging and eventful afternoon for the No. 2 Ford Mustang Dark Horse team. Cindric started 13th after Saturday’s qualifying session was canceled due to weather, with the lineup set per the NASCAR Rule Book. Early in the race, he worked the draft from the bottom lane before moving to the middle lane, reporting the car was “a little darty, a little free” in the opening run. As the field settled into single-file around Lap 30, Cindric was scored 28th but methodically worked his way forward, reaching fourth by Lap 42. A setback came during the first green-flag pit cycle when Cindric missed his pit stall after getting stacked three-wide on entry, forcing him to circle back down pit road for service. The issue cost valuable track position, and he was scored 35th late in Stage 1. After a green-flag stop for fuel on Lap 81, he returned to the track alone without any drafting help and ultimately finished Stage 1 in 35th, one lap down. The race took another turn early in Stage 2 when Cindric was collected in a multi-car incident on Lap 115. The No. 2 team made multiple trips to pit road to assess and repair damage. Cindric returned to the track 24th with just over 65 laps remaining and continued to battle for position. Following a caution on Lap 124, Cindric pitted for fuel and by the end of Stage 2, he was scored 21st and earned the free pass to return to the lead lap, reporting no balance concerns heading into the final stage. Restarting 17th, Cindric navigated the closing laps in the lead draft as the field ran in two lanes. A late caution with seven laps to go set up a final sprint to the finish, with the No. 2 team opting to stay out and maintain track position. Cindric restarted just outside the top 10 with three laps remaining and avoided trouble in a chaotic final lap to secure an eighth-place finish.
CINDRIC’S THOUGHTS: “Obviously, I didn’t get a chance to be part of those last two cycles of that first stage. We got trapped with the 34 car to our inside and missed on that execution and it took us about all the way up to the third stage to get back on the lead lap. I’m not sure I’m the best judge of how things went to be honest. The end of the race I would say played out a similar way to what we thought as far as racing in the lanes and the aggression for sure. We can’t run that many laps without wrecking each other on these. I wish we would have had a gauge of our speed or really anything from today, so other than a good points finish, and we need one of those, especially on tracks like this, so we’ll take that and keep going on.”
RYAN BLANEY No. 12 WURTH FORD MUSTANG DARK HORSE
START: 15TH STAGE 1: 5TH STAGE 2: 37TH FINISH: 37TH POINTS: 3RD
RACE RUNDOWN: Ryan Blaney and the No. 12 Wurth Ford Mustang Dark Horse team began the afternoon on a high note with a fifth-place finish in Stage 1 but were collected in a 26-car incident during the opening run of the second stage, resulting in a 37th-place finish at Talladega. After qualifying was rained out Saturday, Blaney took the green flag from 15th as the field formed three-wide to start the 98-lap stage. With varying fuel strategies in play, the pack began to run single-file by lap 25 before Blaney was called to pit road on lap 47 with the third group of cars as the 12 team serviced the Wurth Ford with four tires and fuel. Blaney went back into fuel save mode to begin the following run along with the group of cars he pitted with, allowing them to become the lead pack with 10 laps remaining in Stage 1. The pace started to pick up with under five laps to go as Blaney worked the top lane to enter the top-five as the 12 team was able to pull off a 50-lap run on fuel to pick up a fifth-place finish in the longest stage of the day. Following another four tire stop prior to the start of Stage 2, Blaney restarted from the outside of row three and eventually pushed teammate Joey Logano to the lead on lap 110, vaulting the No. 12 to second in the running order in the process. A three-wide battle for the top spot shuffled the leaders a few laps later before a spin at the front of the field at the entrance of turn three set off a 26-car pileup as Blaney was hit in the right rear and sent sliding into the outside wall. The 12 team attempted to make repairs in the garage area but was unable to return to the track, culminating in a 37th-place finish.
BLANEY’S THOUGHTS: “I feel like we all just got pinballing off each other there. [Ross Chastain] got up in front of me. I was coming, so I’m kind of checking and trying to get on him OK, and it looked like [Bubba Wallace] got up in front of him while we were coming, and then we all just kind of got nose bumper tag there. You’re trying to lift and stabilize it and [Wallace] ended up getting turned in front of everybody and causing a big wreck. It’s not like there’s any blame on anybody. It’s what this thing is. We all just kind of get bumping and banging and one guy eventually gets turned with the car being as unstable as it is. It definitely stinks to be out early.”
JOEY LOGANO No. 22 SHELL-PENNZOIL FORD MUSTANG DARK HORSE
START: 25TH STAGE 1: 3RD STAGE 2: 39TH FINISH: 39TH POINTS: 15TH
RACE RUNDOWN: Joey Logano and the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse team got off to a strong start Sunday at Talladega with a third-place finish in Stage 1, but were involved in a 26-car incident during the opening laps of the second segment that signaled the end of their day in a 39th-place finish. With qualifying rained out Saturday and the lineup set per the rule book, Logano took the green flag from 25th as the field formed three-wide to start the longest stage of the day at 98 laps. Varying fuel strategies began to take shape within the first 30 laps as different packs formed single-file throughout the field, prompting Logano to hit pit road with the third and final group under green on lap 47 for four tires and fuel. Logano and the rest of the group immediately went back saving fuel in an attempt to make it to the end of the stage without pitting a second time, allowing them to become the lead pack with 10 laps remaining in Stage 1. As the pace began to increase in the closing laps of the segment, Logano remained in the bottom lane and forced a three-wide battle in the tri-oval for the stage win, but came up just short in a third-place effort with the 22 team successfully executed a 50-lap run on fuel. After another four tire stop between stages, Logano lined up to restart from the outside of row two and was pushed to the lead by teammate Ryan Blaney on lap 110, marking the 21st-consecutive race he has led on a drafting track and 14th time in the last 15 Talladega races he has led at least one lap. A few laps later, Logano relinqished the lead after getting split into the middle lane out of turn four before the big one unraveled on the following lap – a 26-car pileup that started at the front of the field going into turn three that collected the Shell-Pennzoil Ford Mustang. Logano was unable to make it back to pit road due to the damage sustained, marking an early exit Sunday.
LOGANO’S THOUGHTS: “They just started wrecking above me. You’re kind of seeing it happen and hope they stay up there and you’re able to get by it. The wreck started moving down the hill and there we were. It’s just unfortunate. The team did a good job getting our Ford Mustang able to get some stage points there, which that’s the only positive of today.”
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Texas Motor Speedway for the Wurth 400 on Sunday, May 3. Live coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
