Ricky Stenhouse Jr. secured a dramatic victory at the Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, edging out Brad Keselowski by just 0.006 seconds in a photo finish. This marks Stenhouse’s fourth career NASCAR Cup Series win, his first since the 2023 Daytona 500, and continues his dominance at restrictor-plate tracks like Talladega and Daytona.

Stenhouse, driving the No. 47 Chevrolet for JTG Daugherty Racing, expressed his gratitude after the race, emphasizing the hard work his team had put in over the last year and a half. “This team has worked really hard. We haven’t won since the Daytona 500 in 2023, but we knew this track was ours to take,” Stenhouse said. He dedicated the victory to the victims of recent flooding in North Carolina, particularly in Black Mountain, where co-owner Brad Daugherty’s family resides.

The race saw Stenhouse, who had endured an up-and-down season, capitalize on a chaotic finish that involved a 22-car wreck. Despite the carnage, he managed to hold off Keselowski in overtime to claim the win. Keselowski, a six-time winner at Talladega, came agonizingly close to his seventh victory but fell just short. “I just needed half a foot,” Keselowski said after the race, praising the push from Kyle Larson that got him close to the win but not quite enough.

The victory was particularly significant for Stenhouse, who became the third non-playoff driver to win a race during this year’s playoffs. His triumph follows Ross Chastain’s victory in Kansas and Chris Buescher’s win at Watkins Glen. Stenhouse also became the ninth driver this season to break a winless streak of 42 races or more.

The race, which was extended into overtime following the massive crash with five laps remaining, saw several playoff contenders, including Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman, and Chase Elliott, caught up in the chaos. Austin Cindric, who had been leading and won the second stage, triggered the crash after receiving a bump from Keselowski that sent his car spinning into the field.

William Byron finished third and secured his spot in the next round of the playoffs. Other drivers who finished in the top five included Kyle Larson and Erik Jones, with Christopher Bell, Justin Haley, Austin Dillon, Bubba Wallace, and Denny Hamlin rounding out the top 10.

With four races left in the season, the playoff picture is beginning to take shape. Byron, Bell, Larson, and Hamlin are among those comfortably above the cutline heading into the next race at Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, while Joey Logano, Daniel Suarez, Austin Cindric, and Chase Briscoe find themselves below the cutoff.