NASCAR: Cindric lifts Team Penske with Talladega triumph

April 28, 2025

NASCAR Wire Service

By Holly Cain

TALLADEGA, Ala. – Austin Cindric’s dramatic victory in Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway was certainly a huge confidence boost for the 26-year-old NASCAR Cup Series star. Not only did it punch Cindric’s 2025 Playoff ticket but perhaps as importantly the success put his iconic Team Penske organization back in the winner’s column for the first time this season.

Despite Penske’s three drivers, Cindric, Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney, being legitimate contenders in nearly all 10 races this season, the team has been slow to Victory Lane by the perpetually high Penske standard, at least, and by the strong output week-after-week.

Cindric’s impressive showing Sunday may have changed the tide, however.

All three drivers have stage wins and all three had led triple-digit laps on the season, before Cindric hoisted the Talladega trophy. And the Wood Brothers Racing team, which operates under the Penske technical umbrella won with driver Josh Berry at Las Vegas.

“I think a combination of encouragement to heads beating against the table,” Cindric said of the challenging start to the year for the team in general. “You have four-five days to get over yourself and try not to let that bleed into each week. Just being able to watch guys like Ryan [Blaney] and Joey [Logano], these guys are champions, but they go through adversity just like the next guy, no different than in how these races play out.

“I guess misery loves company in some ways. I feel like Ryan’s had his fair share of tough breaks this season and I know there’s a lot of strength in our company and a win like this only helps the whole team be able to push forward in the same direction, no different than the 21 car winning in Vegas this year and now with us. A concentrated effort to get all our cars in the Playoffs is first priority and I think this only helps concentrate that.”

Perhaps most perplexing is that three-time and reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano, is not only winless, but still racing for his first top-five of the year.

After leading laps and looking strong Sunday, what looked like a fifth-place finish at Talladega was negated after failing NASCAR’s routine post-race inspection for a loose bolt. Logano was dropped to 37th in the official finishing order and the team was quick to issue a mea culpa, saying it would not protest the action.

“It was not intentional and happened throughout the course of the race event. Team Penske accepts the disqualification,” the statement read.

Logano’s best finish now is eighth at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway on March 30 despite the fact his No. 22 has led laps in six races, including a race best 83 at Atlanta, where he finished 12th and 81 laps at Phoenix, where he finished 13th. The good news is his 284 laps led is fourth most in the series this year and despite the frustrating start, Logano is still ranked 11th in the championship driver standings.

He was pleased and encouraged Sunday to see a teammate claiming victory.

“It’s about time one of us wins these things,” Logano said. “You think about the amount of laps led by Team Penske and Ford in general and we just haven’t been able to close, so to see a couple Fords there on the front row duking it out, I wish one of them was me in a selfish way, but it’s also good to see those guys running up there and being able to click one off for Penske.”

Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford, won pole position at Atlanta and has three top-five finishes, but has absolutely suffered through a tough opening of the season – much of it, like Sunday, not of his doing. At Talladega, he was unavoidably collected in an accident started by Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski as the field (including Blaney) was headed to pit road.

The 2023 NASCAR Cup champion led a race best 124 laps at Homestead, only to be sidelined with a rare engine failure – the third consecutive race (also Phoenix and Las Vegas) where he did not finish despite promising showings. The good news for Blaney is that despite the disappointing he’s still ranked eighth in the championship driver standings and still an absolute favorite each week.

The promising news for the team is that Texas Motor Speedway, where the series races Sunday in the Wurth 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY (3:30 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) has been a solid venue, particularly for Logano and Blaney.

Logano won there in 2014 and has 12 top-five showings there including runner-up in 2016 and 2022. Blaney has top-10 finishes in half of his 16 starts at the 1.5-mile track, including five straight from 2019-22. In 2018 he won the pole and finished runner-up at the 1.5-mile track.