Austin Cindric pips Ryan Preece to the line to win in Talladega
Austin Cindric's crew put him in position to win Sunday. He just had to do the rest.
The Team Penske driver did just that by holding off Ryan Preece down the stretch to win the Jack Link's 500 as the Nascar Cup Series returned to action after a bye week on Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama.
The Fords of Cindric and Preece ran one-two side-by-side in front of the Chevrolets of William Byron and Kyle Larson with 17 laps to go. The pair raced tight but clean off turn 4 for the final time, with Cindric's No 2 edging Preece's No 60 by 0.022 seconds for his third career win in his 125th start.
Though he crossed the line in a career-best second place, Preece was disqualified from the race hours later, as was fifth-place finisher Joey Logano.
Nascar found both cars to have violated spoiler specifications, sending Preece to 38th place and Logano to 39th, last in the field. The drivers earned only one point in the championship standings, instead of 40 points for Preece and 41 for Logano.
On the day's final pit stop, Cindric's crew turned in the quickest service on the No 2, which gridded 25th as it hit pit road.
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