“Bro thinks he’s Blaney”: NASCAR fans react to Austin Cindric’s Stage One photo finish over Chase Elliott

NASCAR Cup Series driver Austin Cindric of Team Penske finished first in Stage One of the NASCAR Cup Series GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, Alabama.

The #2 Ford driver won the first stage by an extraordinary 0.004-second lead against Hendrick Motorsport's Chase Elliot. He pulled in a neck-to-neck battle with the #9 driver, which made the NASCAR community on X (formerly Twitter) reminisce about the three-wide finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway in February.

Many fans took to X (formerly Twitter) to react to a thrilling Stage 1 finish, with one of the fans commenting,

"Cindric thinks he's Blaney, scheme and everything

While another fan tweeted,

"Bro thinks he's blaney"

More NASCAR fans expressed their love for the race,

"so many close stage/race finishes this year"

"Holy f*ck this is why I love Talladega lmao" said a fan.

"So close" another fan tweeted.

How did Austin Cindric remind NASCAR fans of Ryan Blaney?

On February 25, 2024, at Atlanta Motor Speedway, defending NASCAR Cup Series Champion Ryan Blaney made a daring inside move on the last lap, which had resulted in a three-wide finish race in the Ambetter Health 400.

Despite this move, the #12 driver of Team Penske came up short by a few inches to the finish line, only 0.003 seconds behind #99 driver Daniel Suarez, who secured the win.

Although this strategy didn't work for the #12 driver, it might have served as an inspiration to his fellow Team Penske teammate during the first stage of the GEICO 500 at Talladega track.

In the post-match interview with Bob Pockrass after the race, Blaney said,

"What a cool finish. Appreciate the fans for sticking around. That’s a lot of fun. That’s always a good time when we can do that, race clean, three-wide finish to the end. Happy for Daniel."

During another interview post-race with Jamie Little, the #12 Team Penske driver admitted,

"I thought I laid back enough in (Turns) 1 and 2 to not let both lanes get that big of a run. I did that like the three laps before the end and I was able to manage it kind of fairly well, and they just got both lanes shoving super hard. I just chose the bottom (lane), and it was the safest place to be."

With the 500-mile race coming to its finishing stage, let's see if any of the drivers of Team Penske or the manufacturer Ford secure a winning finish and end their winless streak.