Ryan Blaney's misfortune is Austin Cindric's gain after wild final lap at Gateway

With the victory, Cindric is locked into the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs for the first time since 2022. 

A dejected Blaney exited his car with nothing to show for his troubles but an empty fuel cell and a 24th-place finish. As Blaney slowly clambered out of his No. 12 car, Cindric celebrated with his team on the front stretch. It was yet another great NASCAR moment that perfectly encapsulated the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. 

Cindric started on the front row, and thanks to pit strategy and engine issues for Christopher Bell, put himself in a position to be opportunistic when Blaney's misfortune arose. 

For Blaney, it was a prime opportunity at his first victory of the season stolen away by a few drops of gasoline. 

Denny Hamlin finished second in Sunday's race, marking his fifth consecutive top-five finish. 

"It's good to have momentum. I want to win every week," Hamlin said, making sense of his evident disappointment. "It's tough feeling bad about a second-place finish, but it's just a testament to how strong our team is."

Tyler Reddick, who drives a car that is co-owned by Hamlin, got his best finish at Gateway in the Cup Series' two races there. Reddick entered the day with an average finish of 25.5 at the 1.25-mile track but escaped with a fourth-place finish on Sunday. 

"It was nice to have a good finish," Reddick said. "We've been able to come here and have fast racecars, but it's just fallen apart late. So it's nice that we were able to recover from issues early in the race and get the finish we did."

Other notable finishers in Sunday's race include Brad Keselowski in third, 2022 Gateway winner Joey Logano in fifth, Bell in seventh and polesitter Michael McDowell in 25th.