2024 YellaWood 500

Race details[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]
Race 31 of 36 in the2024 NASCAR Cup Series
Date	October 6, 2024 (2024-10-06)
Location	Talladega Superspeedway inLincoln, Alabama
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	2.66 miles (4.28 km)
Distance	195 laps, 518.7 mi (834.766 km)
Scheduled distance	188 laps, 500.08 mi (804.8 km)
Weather	Sunny with a temperature around 84 °F (29 °C); wind out of the southwest at around 2 miles per hour (3.2 km/h).
Average speed	150.773 miles per hour (242.646 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports
Time	52.310
Most laps led
Driver	Austin Cindric	Team Penske
Laps	29
Winner
No. 47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing
Television in the United States
Network	NBC
Announcers	Leigh Diffey,Jeff Burton andSteve Letarte (booth) Jimmie Johnson andDale Jarrett (NBC Peacock Pitbox)
Nielsen ratings	1.74 (3.127 million)
Radio in the United States
Radio	MRN
Booth announcers	Alex Hayden, Jeff Striegle andTodd Gordon
Turn announcers	Dave Moody (1 & 2),Mike Bagley (Backstretch) and Chris Wilner (3 & 4)

The2024 YellaWood 500 was aNASCAR Cup Seriesrace held on October 6, 2024, atTalladega Superspeedway inLincoln, Alabama. Contested over 195 laps—extended from 188 laps due to anovertime finish on the 2.66 mi (4.28 km) asphalt superspeedway, it was the 31st race of the2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, the fifth race of the playoffs, and the second race of the Round of 12.Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won the race, his first since the2023 Daytona 500.Brad Keselowski finished 2nd, andWilliam Byron finished 3rd.Kyle Larson andErik Jones rounded out the top five, andChristopher Bell,Justin Haley,Austin Dillon,Bubba Wallace, andDenny Hamlin rounded out the top ten.

The race is notable for containing the largest "Big One" in modern Cup Series history, with 28 cars being officially recorded as being involved.

Talladega Superspeedway, formerly known as Alabama International Motor Speedway, is a motorsports complex located north ofTalladega, Alabama. It is located on the formerAnniston Air Force Base in the small city of Lincoln. A tri-oval, the track was constructed in 1969 by theInternational Speedway Corporation, a business controlled by theFrance family. Talladega is most known for its steep banking. The track currently hostsNASCAR's Cup Series,Xfinity Series, andCraftsman Truck Series. Talladega is thelongest NASCAR oval with a length of 2.66-mile-long (4.28 km) tri-oval like theDaytona International Speedway, which is 2.5-mile-long (4.0 km).

• (R) denotes rookie driver.
• (P) denotes playoff driver.
• (i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.

Michael McDowell scored the pole for the race with a time of 52.310 and a speed of 183.063 mph (294.611 km/h).^[9]

With just 5 laps remaining in the race, the big one occurred down the backstretch. Austin Cindric was leading when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. got side by side with Cindric. Behind Cindric was Brad Keselowski. Keselowski had a run behind Cindric and bumped into Cindric's rear. Keselowski hit him hard enough that caused Cindric to lose control of his car and turn up the track into Stenhouse which sent Cindric spinning in front of the pack. Cars checked up but ran into one another causing a chain reaction crash.

A total of 28 cars were involved in the crash, the largest in modern Cup Series history surpassing the2003 Aaron's 499 big one at the same track that took out 27 cars. It was also the second-largest in modern NASCAR history behind the2002 Aaron's 312 in the Busch Series (now called Xfinity Series) at the same track that took out 31 cars. There were cars with no damage while there were others that had severe damage such as crushed front bumpers and broken wheels while parts of the cars who were involved were stuck with flat tires that caused their tires to spin and not move the car. This prompted a red flag that lasted for nearly 9 minutes and a 9 lap caution period. Only 7 drivers ended up DNFing from the wreck.^[10]

1. 2- Austin Cindric(P)
2. 4- Josh Berry
3. 8- Kyle Busch
4. 9- Chase Elliott(P)
5. 10- Noah Gragson
6. 13- A. J. Allmendinger
7. 14- Chase Briscoe(P)
8. 16- Shane van Gisbergen
9. 17- Chris Buescher
10. 19- Martin Truex Jr.
11. 20- Christopher Bell(P)
12. 21- Harrison Burton
13. 22- Joey Logano(P)
14. 23- Bubba Wallace
15. 31- Daniel Hemric
16. 34- Michael McDowell
17. 38- Todd Gilliland
18. 41- Ryan Preece
19. 42- John Hunter Nemechek
20. 43- Erik Jones
21. 45- Tyler Reddick(P)
22. 47- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (eventual winner)
23. 48- Alex Bowman(P)
24. 51- Corey LaJoie
25. 62- Anthony Alfredo
26. 71- Zane Smith
27. 77- Carson Hocevar
28. 99- Daniel Suárez(P)

The wreck set up NASCAR overtime for a two lap shootout. On the restart, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. took the lead but Brad Keselowski got side by side with Stenhouse. On the last lap, they both continued to be side by side with Stenhouse getting pushed by William Byron and Keselowski getting pushed by Kyle Larson. In turn 3, Keselowski got infront and looked like he was gonna be able to hold everyone off and win. But out of turn 4, Stenhouse got a big push from Byron and got side by side with Keselowski again. The two remained side by side through the tri-oval and Byron peaked to the outside in an attempt to make it a 3 wide finish but didn't get close enough and both Stenhouse and Keselowski crossed the finish line side by side. Stenhouse won the race by 0.006 seconds. This was Stenhouse's first win since the2023 Daytona 500.^[11] It was the 4th photo finish in the top 3 Series of the year with the previous 3 beingthe 3 wide photo finish at Atlanta in Cup where Daniel Suárez beat Ryan Blaney by 0.003 seconds and Kyle Busch by 0.007 seconds,the 2nd closest Xfinity Series finish at Texas that sawSam Mayer beatRyan Sieg by 0.002 seconds, andthe closest Cup Series finish at Kansas that saw Kyle Larson beat Chris Buescher by 0.001 seconds.

Stage OneLaps: 60

Stage TwoLaps: 60

Stage ThreeLaps: 68

• Lead changes: 66 among 24 different drivers
• Cautions/Laps: 4 for 24 laps
• Red flags: 1 for 8 minutes and 42 seconds
• Time of race: 3 hours, 26 minutes, and 25 seconds
• Average speed: 150.773 miles per hour (242.646 km/h)
• Margin of victory: 0.006

NBC Sports covered the race on the television side.Leigh Diffey,Jeff Burton, andSteve Letarte called the race from the broadcast booth. Seven-timeNASCAR Cup Series championJimmie Johnson and1999NASCAR Cup Series championDale Jarrett called from the NBC Peacock Pit Box on pit road.Dave Burns, Kim Coon,Parker Kligerman, and Marty Snider handled the pit road duties from pit lane. NBC premiered "NASCAR Nonstop", where every green flag lap was ad free.^[12]

MRN had the radio call for the race, which was also simulcasted onSirius XM NASCAR Radio. Alex Hayden, Jeff Striegle andTodd Gordon called the race for MRN when the field races through the tri-oval.Dave Moody will call the action from turn 1,Mike Bagley called the action for MRN when the field races down the back straightaway, and Chris Wilner called the race from the Sunoco tower just outside of turn 4. Steve Post, Dillon Welch,Brienne Pedigo, and Jason Toy called the action for MRN from pit lane.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 William Byron 3,122 1 2 Christopher Bell 3,105 (–17) 1 3 Kyle Larson 3,100 (–22) 1 4 Denny Hamlin 3,078 (–44) 1 5 Alex Bowman 3,074 (–48) 4 6 Ryan Blaney 3,073 (–49) 2 7 Tyler Reddick 3,062 (–60) 1 8 Chase Elliott 3,061 (–61) 1 9 Joey Logano 3,048 (–74) 10 Daniel Suárez 3,041 (–81) 1 11 Austin Cindric 3,032 (–90) 1 12 Chase Briscoe 3,029 (–93) 13 Ty Gibbs 2,144 (–978) 14 Martin Truex Jr. 2,130 (–992) 15 Brad Keselowski 2,104 (–1,018) 16 Harrison Burton 2,048 (–1,074) Official driver's standings

Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Chevrolet 1,134 1 2 Ford 1,087 (–47) 1 3 Toyota 1,084 (–50) Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.

• 2024 in sports in Alabama
• 2024 NASCAR Cup Series
• October 2024 sports events in the United States
• NASCAR races at Talladega Superspeedway

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