Team Penske's Austin Cindric held off RFK Racing's Ryan Preece, who was later disqualified anyway, to win a Jack Link's 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway which saw a total of 67 lead changes among 23 drivers in the 39-car field.
Cindric's victory in this 188-lap race around the four-turn, 2.66-mile (4.281-kilometer) high-banked Lincoln, Alabama oval was his first of the 2025 season, and it made him the season's sixth different winner through its first 10 races.
With 16 races remaining on the regular season schedule, there could still be as many 22 different winners before the four-round, 10-race playoffs get underway.
As a result, Cindric technically isn't locked into the playoffs yet.
The 16 playoff spots go to the regular season champion, even if he fails to win a race, and the 15 drivers who rank next highest in wins. So at this point in the year, winning twice is the only way to truly secure a playoff spot, as there can be no more than 13 multi-race winners during the regular season.
In the event that there are more winners than available playoff spots, the tiebreaker to determine which single-race winners get into the postseason and which don't becomes points. It's basically the same exact thing that happens among non-winners when there are fewer winners than available playoff spots, which is what typically happens.
Three drivers have won multiple races so far this year, those being Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell, plus Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson, while Cindric is one of three with a single victory.
Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron leads the point standings with one win, while Cindric and Wood Brothers Racing's Josh Berry find themselves in positions that are a bit more precarious down in 14th and 21st place, respectively.
It's why the driver of the No. 2 Ford, even with Sunday's victory, is not mathematically locked into the playoffs yet. Should there be more than 16 winners, which is admittedly still a very unlikely possibility, Cindric and Berry could end up having to fight it out among fellow single-race winners on points to determine who actually gets into the playoffs.
Of course, winning twice solves everything. And that would certainly be Cindric's preferred route. He went to the playoffs in 2022 and 2024, but with one win each time (and he ironically would not have qualified on points either time).
He would love to get a second victory in 2025.
Texas Motor Speedway is scheduled to host the 11th race on the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series calendar this Sunday, May 4. The Wurth 400 presented by Liqui Moly is set to be shown live on Fox Sports 1 beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET. If you have not yet had the opportunity to do so, begin a free trial of FuboTV today and don't miss any of the action!