The Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway on October 6th, 2024, was eventful, to say the least. Not only did it end in a three-wide photo finish that was decided by just 0.006 seconds, a late-race wreck took out 27 cars, eight of which were Playoffs eligible. The Playoff picture looks quite a bit different than it did prior to the superspeedway race, and several NASCAR Ford drivers are now in trouble if they want to make the Round of 8 and continue their title quests.
According to a report from NASCAR.com, Austin Cindric is perhaps in the worst shape following the two-dozen-car pileup. Cindric’s No. 2 Ford Mustang Dark Horse was the catalyst that triggered the massive crash after a chain reaction forced several NASCAR Ford drivers into one another. Harrison Burton’s No. 21 Mustang contacted Joey Logano’s No. 22 Mustang, who then nosed hard into the back of Brad Keselowski’s No. 6 Mustang which eventually turned Cindric.
“I just got turned at the front of the field. Unfortunately, that’s how Daytona ended for us and I think what that says is we’ve got really fast race cars and great execution,” Cindric said after finishing 32nd in the race. “As the leader, I was trying to be as predictable as possible as far as taking pushes and it’s just a real shame.”
He added, “I don’t really feel like doing a whole lot of complaining about what happened or whose fault it is, it doesn’t really matter. It puts us in a must-win situation for the Charlotte road course.”
Had Cindric won at Talladega, he would have secured his spot in the Round of 8. Instead, he finds himself 29 points below the cutline. Ironically, that’s the same deficit that he had before the race at ‘Dega.
Chase Briscoe isn’t in much better shape. Prior to Talladega, his No. 14 NASCAR Ford team was 23 points out of the Round of 8. However, he finished 30th, 32 points behind the elimination line. Logano, too, entered Talladega nine points head, but currently finds himself 13 points behind.
In short, the forthcoming race on the Charlotte Roval will be critical for the Playoffs teams affected by “The Big One” at Talladega.
Comment
That was the “best” crash I’ve seen in a long time. They must have replayed it 40 times. Lot’s of repercussions. Epic. Fail.