Ricky Stenhouse Jr. secured a thrilling victory against Brad Keselowski during NASCAR’s overtime at Talladega Superspeedway, winning the Cup Series’ YellaWood 500 in a nail-biting finish this Sunday in Lincoln, Alabama.

After a lengthy red-flag delay, Stenhouse maintained the lead over Keselowski at the restart. But on the final lap, Keselowski managed to take the lead in Turn 3.

Thanks to a strong push from William Byron, Stenhouse regained momentum in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing car, ultimately defeating Keselowski by a mere 0.006 seconds. This marked his fourth career win, the first since his victory at the 2023 Daytona 500.

Byron’s performance secured him a third-place finish, enabling him to advance to the Round of 8. Kyle Larson and Erik Jones finished in fourth and fifth place, respectively.

With 20 laps remaining, there was a flurry of manufacturer-centric pit stops. Stenhouse and Austin Cindric emerged as front-runners, but a massive crash known as the “Big One” occurred on Lap 184, causing a fourth caution and a red-flag stoppage.

Cindric, who had started the day at the back of the pack among the title contenders, was pushed by Keselowski’s Ford—resulting from a chain reaction with Joey Logano—which triggered chaos among multiple cars on the backstretch.

This incident involved 28 cars, setting a record for the largest crash in Cup history at Talladega. Championship hopefuls like Chase Elliott, Chase Briscoe, Alex Bowman, Tyler Reddick, and Daniel Suarez were among those caught in the wreck.

Defending series champion Ryan Blaney crashed at the end of Stage 2, finishing in 39th place, marking his seventh DNF in 2024.

During the second race of the postseason Round of 12, Suarez faced early difficulties, getting lapped and losing major ground. The No. 99 driver attempted to move into the high lane but was spun out by BJ McLeod’s No. 78 car without any additional contact on the backstretch.

With 10 laps remaining on the 2.66-mile superspeedway in 60-lap Stage 1, Chris Buescher’s No. 17 Ford took the lead, edging out Stenhouse, Byron, and Larson for the maximum bonus points while racing remained clean.

Cindric’s No. 2 Team Penske Ford won the 10 bonus points in Stage 2, but significant developments arose for his teammates Blaney and Logano on Lap 122.

Blaney’s No. 12 car, after being nudged by Bowman, collided with Shane van Gisbergen’s car, veering sharply and crashing head-on into the frontstretch wall during a severe accident.

Blaney’s accident was catastrophic and also affected Chastain, whose No. 1 Chevrolet caught fire in Turn 1. Logano, Denny Hamlin, and Reddick were also involved, sustaining damage.