Austin Cindric's golden ticket moment was thwarted by a late crash at Talladega

With less than five laps to go, Austin Cindric was in prime position to clinch a victory in Sunday's YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, a win that will send the No. 2 team into the next round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs and the Problems would undo Kansas.

Heading into the weekend, Cindric was among the top points scorers on superspeedways this season, and the Team Penske driver again racked up valuable stage points, finishing ninth in the first stage and winning the second stage of the race.

The No. 2 Ford Mustang Dark Horse ran at the front of the field all afternoon, and with five laps to go, Cindric led the inside lane, trading the lead back and forth with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. every time the field went under the start -Finish line.

But in no time, things went wrong for Cindric – literally.

After successfully lapping Todd Gilliland, there was a loss of momentum on the inside lane, allowing the No. 2 Ford Mustang to create a significant gap to Brad Keselowski, the second car on the final row. When things came back together, the aggressive push threw Cindric to the side, causing a serious accident.

What followed was a major 28-car accident at the end of the Talladega Superstretch, the largest accident in the recorded history of the NASCAR Cup Series, which eliminated several drivers who were still eligible for the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

When the first car in front of the pack spun, Cindric was thrown into oncoming traffic and suffered at least five separate impacts in the accident, including a particularly serious one at Daniel Hemric's end that caused enough damage to No. 31 to end Hemric's day.

“In this position, the best thing you can do is be as predictable as possible and keep your car as straight as possible,” Cindric said after the accident. “The front of the field was shuffled forward by (Todd Gilliland), which basically split the entire field, which definitely caused congestion because guys were getting out of lane and of course an off-center kickoff from (Brad Keselowski) and that that was it for our race.” “

Before the accident prematurely ended his afternoon, Cindric had spent 29 laps driving up and down the NASCAR Cup Series field. The Mooresville, North Carolina native was one of the top superspeedway racers all season long, leading laps at all six events at Daytona, Talladega and Atlanta.

“We had an exceptionally fast racing car. The performance of all drivers in the second car was outstanding. “I’m proud of the achievement, but it’s definitely a shame that we were so close to punching our ticket,” Cindric added. “(…) Unfortunately Daytona ended like this for us and I think that means we have really fast race cars and great performance. As the leader I tried to be as predictable as possible and it’s just a real shame.”

Unfortunately for the 26-year-old driver, who has been one of the strongest cars in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs so far, a poor finish in Sunday's event at Talladega leaves him just 29 points shy of the finish line heading into the final round of 16 race at the Charlotte ROVAL.

“I don’t feel like complaining much about what happened or whose fault it is, it doesn’t matter,” Cindric said. “This puts us in a situation where we absolutely have to win the Charlotte Road Course. We brought some exceptionally fast race cars to every single race in the playoffs, and I can't underestimate how proud I am of my race team, and we have to be.” Bring another one next week.

While Cindric has never won on a road course in the NASCAR Cup Series, he has a total of six road course victories in the NASCAR Xfinity and Truck Series. However, he will face stiff competition from AJ Allmendinger and Shane Van Gisbergen at Sunday's event.

We have seen numerous wins in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs over the past decade. Could Austin Cindric be next at the revamped Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL?