TALLADEGA, Alabama – In a battle of Ford drivers in which the blue oval was determined to find its way to victory, Ryan Blaney held off Kevin Harvick at the finish line at Talladega Superspeedway as Blaney advances to round of 16 in NASCAR playoffs.
Harvick, who is retiring at the end of the year, went winless this season and was disqualified after the race when his car failed a technical inspection.
Blaney used a crossover move from the outside lane to the inside to get ahead of Harvick with two laps remaining. Blaney in his Ford for Team Penske and Harvick in a Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing ended up in essentially a drag race, with both drivers refusing to get up as a crash broke out behind them.
“I won it with more advance than in the last two years. This one was maybe 4 feet, the others were 2 feet, but you just don’t know,” said Blaney, a three-time winner at Talladega. “You’re just kind of drag racing down a line hoping to get some help.”
Blaney joined William Byron as both drivers entered the round of 16. The field of 12 will be reduced to eight next Sunday after racing at The Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Blaney boss Roger Penske praised the Ford camp’s strategy of working together to secure a Ford victory as the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets mounted an early challenge.
“For Harvick, who this was his last race here, working like he did with Ryan, it was amazing to see that,” Penske said. “The Hendrick freight train was coming and we all stuck together, that’s the call Ford got earlier today when we talked. It was just perfect execution.
Ford has won 10 playoff races at Talladega, most at any track, and Team Penske has won 10 of the last 18 races at the 2.66-mile Alabama oval.
Blaney, winner of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte in May, now has multiple victories in a season for the second time in his career. But he has lopsided stats this season in that he only has five top-five finishes, but two wins.
“It was a pretty crazy restart, not to mention the last two laps, losing momentum and gaining it back, just clearing down to get to the front row and having a drag race with Kevin,” said Blaney. “To win here three times at Talladega is super cool.”
Harvick finished second as his winless streak extended to 43 races dating back to last season. NASCAR said nearly two hours after the race that his Ford was disqualified because his windshield clips were not secure.
Harvick’s disqualification dropped him to last place in the field. Byron in a Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports moved into second place and Denny Hamlin, who rallied from a lap down, moved into third place in a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Hamlin led three laps during the second stage, but was flagged for speeding on pit road – a troubling habit from the three-time Daytona 500 winner considered the best driver never to win a Cup championship – and the penalty helped drop him a lap. pace. It was Hamlin’s fourth speeding penalty of the season and it took him most of the race to regain his position on the lead lap, then he raced through the field to secure his finish.
That’s not the way we wrote it, but a dub is a dub and it was a dub in our book – it’s as close as we can get,” Hamlin said. “A top five is a long way from where we were with about 15 laps to go.”
NASCAR playoffs:Where the drivers stand in the second round after the Talladega race
Corey LaJoie, who is not competing in the playoffs, moved up to fourth place driving a Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports. Blaney’s teammate Austin Cindric placed fifth and was followed by Kaulig Racing’s Justin Haley in a Chevrolet, defending winner Chase Elliott for Hendrick and the Fords of Ryan Preece and Riley Herbst. Daniel Suarez moves up to 10th place. None of the drivers who finished fourth through tenth place participate in the playoffs.
The race had 70 lead changes among 24 drivers and was run fairly cleanly. Ross Chastain suffered an early crash that caused last year’s championship runner-up to finish last. Brad Keselowski had a subsequent crash with 28 laps to go, which ended the race for him, caused damage to the outside wall at Talladega and stopped all action under a red flag.
PHOTO OF THE ELIMINARIES
Even though he crashed and finished 33rd, Keselowski remained two points above the cut line heading into Charlotte’s playoff race.
The four drivers facing elimination are Tyler Reddick of 23XI Racing, Chastain of Trackhouse Racing, Bubba Wallace of 23XI and Kyle Busch of Richard Childress Racing. Busch must win to advance.
Wallace had a long post-race conversation with 23XI co-owner Michael Jordan on pit road after his 24th-place finish. Jordan appeared to encourage him, at one point placing his hand on the back of Wallace’s neck and then his shoulder, then pulling him in for a hug.
CHASTAIN CRASHES
Chastain, who finished second to Joey Logano last year in the championship race, finished last Sunday after a collision with fellow title contenders Kyle Busch and Christopher Bell on the final lap of the first stage.
Chastain entered Talladega, the middle race of the Round of 16, ranked sixth in the Cup standings and 12 points above the cut line. His last-place finish dropped him below the cut line and forced him into a high-pressure situation next week at the Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Chastain struggled in his previous four starts on Charlotte’s hybrid road/oval track course. His best result is 22nd.
“Left and right,” he replied when asked how he expected next week to go. “I’m living my dream, so whatever our team brings next week, we’ll do our best. As long as I can ride these rockets that Trackhouse brings me, I’m living my dream and we’ll keep fighting.
FOLLOWING
Next Sunday’s NASCAR races will be held at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Roval, where Christopher Bell won last year to avoid playoff elimination.
