CUP: Double disqualification hands Joey Logano the last-place finish in Talladega
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
ALL PHOTOS: Brock Beard
Joey Logano picked up the 5th last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s Jack Links 500 at the Talladega Superspeedway when his #22 Shell / Pennzoil Ford finished 5th, but was disqualified for a rear spoiler violation after he completed all 188 laps.
The finish, which came in Logano’s 589th series start, was his first last-place finish of the season and first in a Cup Series race since April 9, 2023 in the Bristol Dirt Race, 74 races ago. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 29th for the #22, the 33rd by disqualification, and the 758th for Ford. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 46th for the #22, the 62nd by disqualification, and the 1,063rd for Ford.
Ryan Preece picked up the 8th last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s Jack Links 500 at the Talladega Superspeedway when his #60 Kroger / Celsius Ford finished 2nd, but was disqualified for a rear spoiler violation after he completed all 188 laps.
The finish, which came in Preece’s 197th series start, was his first of the season and first in a Cup Series race since April 28, 2024 at Dover, 35 races ago. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 20th for the #60, the 33rd by disqualification, and the 758th for Ford. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 34th for the #60, the 62nd by disqualification, and the 1,063rd for Ford.
Ryan Blaney picked up the 9th last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s Jack Links 500 at the Talladega Superspeedway when his #12 Advance Auto Parts Ford was involved in a multi-car accident after 42 of 188 laps.
The finish, which came in Blaney’s 352nd series start, was his first of the season and first in a Cup Series race since September 15, 2024 at Watkins Glen, 18 races ago. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 35th for the #12, the 685th from a crash, and the 758th for Ford. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 53rd for the #12, the 1,063rd for Ford, and the 1,416th from a crash.
Since Logano was last featured here, he’d scored his third Cup Series Championship in a most unusual fashion. Set for a “Round of 12” exit after the Charlotte “Roval,” he was instead reinstated after the untimely disqualification of Alex Bowman stemming from a car weight issue the Hendrick Motorsports team declined to appeal. With that, Logano made the Championship Four with a win at Las Vegas ahead of a frustrated Christopher Bell, then beat teammate Ryan Blaney by three-tenths of a second in the Phoenix finale to score the title. In that same season, Logano had also made a few XFINITY Series starts for a struggling AM Racing, who had that summer parted ways with Hailie Deegan. While evaluating the team’s equipment in three races, he too finished last after a blown engine just 12 laps into last fall’s race at Darlington.
Coming into Sunday’s race, Logano had won at Talladega three times, but none since the spring of 2018. In fact, since a 3rd-place finish in the 2021 Playoff race there, he’d yet to finish better than 19th in any of the six previous NextGen races at Talladega. He’d also had a hot-and-cold start to the 2025 campaign, scoring a lone top-ten finish at Martinsville with an 8th-place finish, but still leading 284 laps across five races, putting him firmly in the championship conversation once again.
And last week, Logano’s car was as fast as ever. He ranked 9th of the 39 entrants in Round 1 with a lap of 52.910 seconds (180.987mph), then improved to 3rd with a lap of 52.700 seconds (181.708mph) – Logano’s fifth-straight Talladega Cup race where he’d qualified 8th or better. Curiously, his Round 2 speed was matched to the thousandth of a second by Ryan Preece’s #60 Kroger / Celsius Ford, a fact that would foreshadow how Sunday’s last-place battle would ultimately be determined.
Securing the 39th and final starting spot was J.J. Yeley, back in action for the NY Racing Team with Barnett Southern Corporation sponsoring the #44 Chevrolet. Yeley would incur a redundant tail-end penalty for unapproved adjustments, keeping the lineup the same on Sunday. As the cars pulled off pit road, a small flat piece of material fell off the #6 BuildSumarines.com Ford of Brad Keselowski, which was picked up by a member of Austin Cindric’s pit crew. Denny Hamlin also paused at pit entrance in his #11 Progressive Toyota, then rejoined the field in his 13th qualifying spot.
When the green flag dropped, Yeley stayed in the tire tracks of 37th-place starter Justin Haley’s #7 Gainbridge Chevrolet who had B.J. McLeod’s #78 Pigeon Forge Racing Coaster Chevrolet to his outside. The trio started to lose touch with the rest of the field through Turns 1 and 2, then caught back up as the leaders went three-wide heading into the tri-oval, allowing the trio to likewise fill each lane. By Lap 3, Yeley remained last of a now two-wide battle, then tried the middle lane the next time by. On Lap 6, Shane van Gisbergen was trailing the inside line when Yeley made his way past, putting the #88 Safety Culture Chevrolet in last place. By Lap 8, Van Gisbergen was joined by A.J. Allmendinger, whose #16 Grizzly Nicotine Pouches Chevrolet lost drafting help in the middle and lower lane. By Lap 9, Allmendinger had taken last from Van Gisbergen, but was reportedly doing so in order to get the biggest run on the logjammed field, giving him a bid at the bonus point for fastest lap. During this run, he would often lose ground in Turns 1 and 2, then rapidly make it back up down the backstretch.
Allmendinger remained in the last spot for the next several laps, often running a different line from the now 38th-place Van Gisbergen. By Lap 16, Van Gisbergen had caught Yeley in the middle lane for 36th, and Allmendinger caught them both, pulling low in an attempt to get around both. He couldn’t complete the pass, and so the #16 remained in last, now running the middle lane. And on Lap 19, as Van Gisbergen and Yeley continued to battle hard for the 36th spot, Allmendinger began to lose ground. But again, the leaders remained in a tightly-packed bunch of traffic, allowing Allmendinger to recatch the group by Lap 24. He did so just in time, as an on Lap 29, the field settled into a two-wide battle with the lead nine drivers pulling away in a nose-to-tail draft. Dinger still tried to form a middle lane, then pulled low in a bid for passing Yeley, who by now had lost the 36th spot to Van Gisbergen.
Over the next few laps, the last spot changed hands quickly. On Lap 37, it went to Daniel Suarez in the #99 Wendy’s Frosty Chevrolet, then on Lap 38 the #77 Chili’s Ride the ‘Dente Chevrolet. Both remained on track, and by Lap 40, Hocevar trailed a draft of his own behind Cody Ware’s #51 Arby’s x AC Barbecue Sauce Ford, Yeley’s #44, and Ty Gibbs’ #54 SAIA LTL Freight Toyota. This immediately preceded the first round of green-flag stops on Lap 41, where Hocevar remained last coming in, then handed the spot to Chase Briscoe, whose #19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota was last off pit road.
Blaney and Keselowski stuck in the grass.
A second group of cars – mostly Fords – prepared to come in on Lap 43. As they did, a stack-up formed around the fifth spot. There, Brad Keselowski’s #6 turned right to avoid colliding with both his RFK Racing teammates of Ryan Preece and Chris Buescher. At the same time, Kyle Busch’s #8 Nicokick Chevrolet appeared to thread the needle, and immediately found there was no room. Busch and Keselowski collided and spun, forcing the cars behind to scatter. Busch’s car cut right, clipping the left-rear of a passing Alex Bowman in the #48 Ally Chevrolet before Busch spun up the banking in the tri-oval with right-front fender damage. Keselowski hooked left, clipping a passing Ryan Blaney in the #12 Advance Auto Parts Ford in the left-rear, damaging the suspension on Blaney’s car and the nose of Keselowski’s. Both Keselowski and Blaney found themselves stranded in the grass. Keselowski pulled ahead of Blaney before he finally escaped onto pit road, only to trail fluid across Erik Jones’ adjoining pit stall before stopping in his. Blaney’s escape took much longer, allowing him to drive the wrong way out of the tri-oval, then pull into the garage with heavy damage to his right-rear wheel.
Keselowski’s team evaluates the damage. Note the fluid in Jones’ stall at camera left.
On Lap 46, Keselowski received a tow from his stall while Busch’s crew applied a patch of silver tape to his damaged right-front fender. Busch returned to the track while Keselowski joined Blaney in the garage, leaving a swath of fluid that required an extensive cleanup under the ensuing caution. Busch received additional repairs on Lap 47, and Bowman also made an extended stop on Lap 49, which blocked in Yeley, who had trouble getting around him as a result. By Lap 65, MRN Radio confirmed that both Keselowski and Blaney wouldn’t return to the race. Initially, Keselowski was credited with one more lap completed than Blaney, but the final results show both credited with 42 laps.
McLeod pulls behind the wall with overheating issues.
Initially taking the 37th spot was Christopher Bell, who on the Lap 52 restart was bumped sideways by Denny Hamlin off Turn 2, sending his #20 SportClips Haircuts Toyota hard into the inside wall. Also collected was 36th-place Chris Buescher, whose #17 Travel Centers of America Ford was sent sliding into the fence with Bell. Both drivers walked away, and while Bell’s heavy nose damage clearly ended his race, Buescher’s race ended when the team couldn’t replace a broken shock in accordance with a restriction under NASCAR’s DVP rules. Completing the Bottom Five was B.J. McLeod, whose #78 pulled behind the wall on Lap 72 for an overheating issue that ended his race. The team later discovered a washer had become lodged in the radiator.
In the closing stretch of side-by-side racing, Ryan Preece made a timely turn to the right off Turn 4 to take the lead of the outside lane from William Byron, putting Preece’s #60 Kroger / Celsius Ford neck-and-neck with Austin Cindric, his #2 Menards / Quaker State Ford leading the inside line. The victory was decided between these two drivers – and a two-car draft of lapped cars including Josh Berry’s #21 Motorcraft / Quick Lane Ford and Kyle Busch’s damaged #8 – who Cindric caught the draft of entering the tri-oval. At the line, Cindric inched ahead by just 0.022 second ahead of Preece. Logano finished 5th, still fuming as he believed Cindric helped Bubba Wallace beat Logano for the stage win in Stage 2.
But in post-race inspection, NASCAR made the surprising announcement that booth Preece and Logano were disqualified, each for a different infraction relating to the rear spoiler. Preece’s disqualification was for the team using three shims instead of the mandated two. Logano’s spoiler missed a single bolt. Both teams elected to not appeal their disqualifications, so the 5th-place finishing Logano retained last place as the lowest-classified disqualified finisher behind runner-up Preece.
The disqualifications bumped Buescher and McLeod out of the Bottom Five and both Shane van Gisbergen and Anthony Alfredo out of the Bottom Ten.
Alfredo’s career weekend capped by impressive run on Sunday
On the heels of his first top-ten finish of the season with a 6th-place run in Saturday’s XFINITY Series race, Anthony Alfredo had a career day in Sunday’s Cup event, leading seven times for 19 laps in Beard Motorsports’ #62 Fortify Building Solutions Chevrolet. On Lap 96, he’d led the most laps of anyone in the race, and would ultimately rank fourth in that regard behind Ty Gibbs (32), Joey Logano (24), and Chase Briscoe (20). Unfortunately, Alfredo pitted by himself for fuel on Lap 99, dropping him a lap down on Lap 107 which he’d finally get back on a wave-around, leaving him last on the lead lap in 28th (after the Logano and Preece disqualifications).
Zane Smith’s first pole position – which he defended in Round 2 after also running the fastest lap in Round 1 – also saw him pace the field for five laps, including the first three. He battled into the Top Ten for much of the race before slipping to 19th at the checkered flag. Also dropping back after promising runs were Riley Herbst, whose #35 Monster Energy Toyota ran 3rd for much of the closing stages before he dropped to 22nd at the finish, and Ty Dillon, whose #10 Sea Best Chevrolet was in the Top Ten until he ran out of fuel coming off Turn 2 on the final lap, causing him to sputter across the finish line in 23rd.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place finish for the #22 in a Cup Series race at Talladega.
*The 24 laps led by Logano are the most by a driver classified last in a Cup race at Talladega, besting the previous mark of 11 by October 1, 2023 runner-up Kevin Harvick, the most recent last-place finisher by disqualification at Talladega.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
39) #22-Joey Logano / 188 laps / disqualified / led 24 laps
38) #60-Ryan Preece / 188 laps / disqualified / led 6 laps
37) #12-Ryan Blaney / 42 laps / crash
36) #6-Brad Keselowski / 42 laps / crash
35) #20-Christopher Bell / 51 laps / crash
2025 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Penske Racing (2)
2nd) 23XI Racing, Garage 66, Kaulig Racing, NY Racing Team, RFK Racing, Rick Ware Racing, Spire Motorsports, Trackhouse Racing (1)
2025 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Ford (5)
2nd) Chevrolet (4)
3rd) Toyota (1)
2025 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
