TALLADEGA, Ala. – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. edged out Brad Keselowski and William Byron in a three-wide finish to win the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Stenhouse’s margin of victory was 0.006 seconds, but the driver of the JTG Daugherty Racing No. 47 Kroger Health/Palmolive Chevrolet ran at the front of the pack throughout much of the race. He finished second in Stage 1 but then fuel strategy knocked him out of contention for a Stage 2 win.

“Just the way everything kind of fell in line, but I thought us as a team, we talk a lot about saving fuel, but keeping your track position,” Stenhouse said. “It’s a game of chess out there just trying not to need as much fuel when you come down on to that green-flag cycle.

“We positioned ourselves in a great spot. Got to pit road good. They put fuel in it as quick as they could and put in the perfect amount. We came back out leading the line of Chevys and ultimately got to the front to battle the 2 there. So it was kind of Fords versus Chevys I felt like.”

In the third and final stage, Stenhouse battled back, and on the last lap, it was Stenhouse and William Byron on the high side drag racing Brad Keselowski and Kyle Larson on the low side down the backstretch. Keselowski had the lead when the field entered the frontstretch, but Byron gave Stenhouse a big shove that sent him to the lead. At the last moment, Byron pulled out from behind Stenhouse, but the move was too late. Stenhouse edged Keselowski and Bryon to capture his fourth career NASCAR Cup Series win.

“It felt really good,” Stenhouse said. “We had our Chevy teammates behind us, and I was hoping Kyle (Larson) wasn’t going to push the 6 (Keselowski) that hard. I knew the 24 (Byron) was probably going to try and get to the line there.

“But, man, this team has put a lot of hard work in. Obviously we haven’t won since the 500 in ’23. It’s been an up-and-down season.”

Keselowski finished runner-up in the thrilling finish. The top-five finish is his first seven races, dating back to Michigan in August. At the end of the day, Keselowski and Larson just didn’t have the momentum Stenhouse and Byron has in the final feet.

“He (Larson) gave me a good push down the frontstrech, but the 24 was able to really stick with the 47 there and just needed a tiny bit,” Keselowski said. “It’s a good finish for us. We’ve been knocking on the door of these plate tracks. I hate that we didn’t bust through with a win, but I’m happy to be right there in contention.”

Byron was the highest finishing Playoff driver with a third-place finish. Although he came up short, Byron departs Talladega locked into the Championship 8.

“I didn’t have a chance to get the lead myself on the last lap, so that was the thought process,” Byron said. “I just couldn’t quite get him clear into (turn) three, or he didn’t take it into three. And then, I just kind of had to be diligent to push him the rest of the way. I felt like it all worked out. I’m happy for Ricky and everyone at Chevrolet. They deserve it. Ricky is a really good drafter.”

Larson finished fourth, followed by Erik Jones, Christopher Bell, Justin Haley, Austin Dillon, Bubba Wallace and Denny Hamlin.

Chris Buescher won Stage 1, and Austin Cindric won Stage 2.

There were 66 lead changes among 24 drivers. Michael McDowell led a race high of 42 laps.

The YellaWood 500 saw four cautions for 24 laps.

As Playoff drivers were shuffling for position to earn stage points at the conclusion of Stage 2, a bump from Alex Bowman sent Ryan Blaney hard into Ross Chastain. Playoff contenders Joey Logano and Hamlin received damage from the accident as well.

“I don’t know if he (Bowman) ever lifted and just drilled me from like three car lengths back,” Blaney said. “The worst possible spot you could do it, so it’s pretty dumb on his part and it figures that he gets away scot free per usual. That’s the end of the day.”

The race changing “Big One” happened on Lap 185, and it involved at least 27 drivers. The chain reaction began when a bump draft mishap from Keselowski sent Cindric into Stenhouse who then continued to spin in the middle of the track. Drivers scattered everywhere with absolutely nowhere to go.

“In that position the best thing you can do is be as predictable as possible, keep your car as straight as possible,” Cindric said. “The front of the pack got shuffled up from the 38 (Todd Gilliland) basically splitting the whole field, which definitely caused some congestion with guys getting out of lanes and obviously an off-center push from the 6 and that’s it for our race. We had an exceptionally fast race car. It was A-plus execution by everyone on the 2 car, so I’m proud of the effort but definitely a bummer to be that close to punching our ticket.”

Bryon leads the Playoff standings, followed by Christopher Bell (+57), Larson (+52), Hamlin (+30), Alex Bowman (+26), Ryan Blaney (+25), Tyler Reddick (+14), Chase Elliott (+13), Joey Logano (-13), Daniel Suarez (-20), Cindric (-29) and Chase Briscoe (-32).

The final race of the Round of 12 will take place at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL on Sunday, Oct. 13. Live coverage will broadcast on NBC at 2 p.m. ET.

Photo Credit: Christian Koelle/TheFourthTurn.com