Blaney Wins In Talladega Photo Finish, Harvick DQ’ed

Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway came down to a last lap move and a game of inches at the checkered flag.

Ryan Blaney made a crossover move with half a lap to go as Kevin Harvick made a move to block Blaney on the backstretch.

Blaney drove his No. 12 Team Penske Ford low, and moved alongside of Harvick, setting up a back-and-forth between the two as they raced towards the finish line.

As they crossed under the checkered flag, Blaney edged out Harvick by .012 of a second to earn his second win of the season, and a free pass into the Round of 8 of the Playoffs.

“It was a pretty wild restart, but let alone the last couple of laps losing momentum and getting it back, just getting clear to the bottom to get to the front row and drag race it out with Kevin,” said Blaney.

It marks the third Talladega victory for Blaney, and the ninth series victory of his career.

The win also means he can go to next week’s race on the unpredictable infield road course at Charlotte Motor Speedway not having to worry about his on-track fortunes affecting his chance to fight for a championship in five weeks.

“To win here three times at Talladega is super cool,” Blaney said. “I have to give a big thanks to Riley Herbst. He did a really good job there the last couple restarts. He doesn’t have a lot of Cup starts, but he did a great job and pushed me so thanks to him. This is so cool.”

Harvick crossed the finish line in second, but was disqualified after his car failed in post-race technical inspection for the windshield fasteners on his car not being secured, as per the NASCAR rule book.

Coming to the finish, Harvick had all the momentum on the outside lane, but saw it go away when rookie driver Riley Herbst, who was pushing Harvick’s No. 4 Ford forward, spun off the front bumper of Corey LaJoie coming to the checkered flag.

“I knew we were in a great spot there with Riley (Herbst) behind us and I don’t know where he spun out, but he got spun out and I knew that if he was still there by the time we got to the end of the tri-oval we were gonna be in really good shape and then at that particular point it was just kind of where we were,” Harvick said prior to the announcement of his disqualification. “I tried to put a donut on his (Blaney’s) door and slow him down just a little bit, but just a great effort and we came up a little short.”

With the DQ, Harvick was relegated to a 38th place finish in his final start at Talladega. He is retiring at the end of the season, and will move to the television broadcast booth in 2024.

William Byron was credited with second. Denny Hamlin, who lost a lap early on after a pit road speeding penalty, finished in third after fighting his way back on to the lead lap late in the going.

“Not how we drew it up, but a dub is a dub and that was a dub in our book – it’s as close as it gets to it,” Hamlin said. “I’m proud of this whole Mavis Toyota team for bringing me a car fast enough to win. When I had to go there, I could and made the right moves at the right time and a top-five is a long way from where we were with about 15 laps to go.”

LaJoie finished in fourth after making contact coming to the finish with Herbst, setting off a multi-car crash that jumbled the final rundown.

It happened as LaJoie made contact with Herbst’s back bumper, sending Herbst spinning down into the door of Dawsonville, Georgia’s Chase Elliott’s door. That sent Elliott’s car sliding, setting off a multi-car crash that included Kyle Larson, Todd Gilliland, Daniel Suarez, polesitter Aric Almirola, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Tyler Reddick, Chase Briscoe and several others.

“I have no idea what happened,” said Elliott, who slid across the finish line in seventh place. “Just got hit in the door. Had four flat tires and I couldn’t drive back.”

Austin Cindric finished in fifth.

With the cutoff race for the Round of 8 looming next Sunday at Charlotte, it was a mixed bag for several of the Playoff contenders.

Byron joins Blaney as the only two drivers already locked into the penultimate round of the Playoffs with his win last week at Texas Motor Speedway. Hamlin’s rebound to finish third gives him a 50 point buffer going into next weekend. They were the only three Playoff drivers that finished in the top 10.

Christopher Bell, who was involved in an earlier shunt, finished in 14th, and sits 22 points above the cutoff. Larson was involved in the final lap crash, leaving him 15th in the final rundown. He now sits 15 points above the cutoff.

Chris Buescher led several laps on the day, but finished 19th, and goes to Charlotte 19 points above the cutoff. Martin Truex, Jr. crossed the line in 18th, and sits 17 markers above the cutoff. Bubba Wallace was contending late, but lost ground when the crash broke out in front of him on the final lap, leaving him 23rd at the end. Wallace now sits nine points below the cutoff. His teammate, Tyler Reddick, was gathered up in the final lap melee and sits two points below the cutoff after a 17th place finish.

Brad Keselowski won the second segment of the race, and appeared to be on his way to a solid finish until being involved in a crash on lap 162. The incident occurred when Carson Hocevar spun when Keselowski tried to push his car forward as the field funneled through the tri-oval. Hocevar’s car hooked Ty Gibbs and Austin Dillon, whose cars came back across the track and his Keselowski, sending Keselowski’s Ford airborne briefly.

All four were eliminated from the race, with Playoff contender Keselowski credited with a 32nd place finish. He will go to Charlotte just two points above the cutoff.

“I just feel bad for Carson (Hocevar). I gave him a little push and it just took off on him,” said Keselowski. “It wadded up a bunch of cars and it’s unfortunate, but we were having a good day with our Solomon Plumbing Ford. We were leading laps and won the second stage. I got shuffled there a few laps earlier and were trying to claw back and it all just gathered up.”

“I don’t fault Brad (Keselowski) at all,” Hocevar said. “I did it in the truck race even. When you’re in the top lane, you have to push. You have to start building momentum. You have to start creating forward energy. It’s just a tough spot. I wasn’t that good of a leader, so I was just trying to learn. I talked to Brad a little bit – I didn’t know if I was backing up too much trying to lock-on. It’s just a tough spot.”

The crash resulted in a red flag condition for around 10 minutes to allow for clean up and repairs to the outside SAFER barrier.

An earlier incident eliminated the hopes of two other Playoff drivers. Coming to the end of the first segment of the race, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. ran out of gas as he and Kyle Busch tried to draft their way to the front. Stenhouse’s slowing car caused a jumble in the pack, and as Ross Chastain tried to make his way past, Busch made contact with him. That sent Chastain’s car into the outside wall before he was hit by Bell’s Toyota.

Chastain’s day was over, leaving him with a 37th place finish and a 10 point deficit below the cutoff going into Charlotte.

“It’s just the way it goes,” Chastain said. “Nothing personal with it…I don’t take any of this personally here (at Talladega Superspeedway). I could have stayed on the bottom a few laps earlier probably and would have been safer. I just had a couple of cars land in my lap there and I went for the gap. Obviously I wish I would have lifted now, but I’ll study that and be better next time.”

Busch was able to continue, and finished 25th. He now goes to Charlotte likely in a must-win situation, as he sits 26 points below the cutoff.

“I caught the No. 1 (Ross Chastain) and I hate it for them,” Busch said. “It’s what happens every time at the end of a stage.”

Busch said he didn’t feel any damage from the incident hindered his day.

“The car drove fine,” he said. “I pulled out there to get in that high line and we all got kind of jumbled up there coming through the frontstretch. The No. 43 (Erik Jones) came with me and a couple others in front of me were up there, and we just didn’t go anywhere. The pace was too fast around the bottom and the middle that the outside lane couldn’t make any headway.”

Justin Haley, Elliott, Ryan Preece, Herbst, and Suarez rounded out the top 10 on Sunday.

NASCAR Cup Series
Talladega Superspeedway – Talladega, AL
YellaWood 500 – October 1, 2023

1. (10) Ryan Blaney (P), Ford, 188.
2. (8) William Byron (P), Chevrolet, 188.
3. (12) Denny Hamlin (P), Toyota, 188.
4. (36) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 188.
5. (7) Austin Cindric, Ford, 188.
6. (30) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 188.
7. (23) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 188.
8. (19) Ryan Preece, Ford, 188.
9. (6) Riley Herbst(i), Ford, 188.
10. (28) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 188.
11. (34) Chandler Smith(i), Chevrolet, 188.
12. (17) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 188.
13. (3) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 188.
14. (15) Christopher Bell (P), Toyota, 188.
15. (4) Kyle Larson (P), Chevrolet, 188.
16. (13) Tyler Reddick (P), Toyota, 188.
17. (1) Aric Almirola, Ford, 188.
18. (16) Martin Truex, Jr. (P), Toyota, 188.
19. (24) Chris Buescher (P), Ford, 188.
20. (31) A.J. Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 188.
21. (18) Michael McDowell, Ford, 188.
22. (35) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Chevrolet, 188.
23. (9) Bubba Wallace (P), Toyota, 188.
24. (2) Joey Logano, Ford, 188.
25. (25) Kyle Busch (P), Chevrolet, 188.
26. (26) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 188.
27. (33) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 188.
28. (20) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 188.
29. (37) B.J. McLeod(i), Chevrolet, 187.
30. (29) Brennan Poole(i), Ford, 186.
31. (21) Harrison Burton, Ford, Suspension, 175.
32. (5) Brad Keselowski (P), Ford, Accident, 161.
33. (14) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, Accident, 161.
34. (22) Ty Gibbs #, Toyota, Accident, 161.
35. (38) Carson Hocevar(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 161.
36. (27) J.J. Yeley(i), Ford, Fuel Pump, 83.
37. (32) Ross Chastain (P), Chevrolet, Accident, 59.
DQ: (11) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 188.

Average Speed: 160.097 mph.

Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 7 Mins, 25 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.012 Seconds.

Caution Flags: 4 for 19 laps.

Lead Changes: 70 among 24 drivers.

Lap Leaders: J. Logano 1-5;A. Almirola 6;J. Logano 7-18;W. Byron (P) 19;J. Logano 20-22;R. Preece 23-30;R. Stenhouse Jr. 31-38;T. Dillon 39-40;C. Bell (P) 41-42;A. Cindric 43-48;R. Stenhouse Jr. 49-50;A. Cindric 51;R. Stenhouse Jr. 52-53;A. Cindric 54-55;R. Stenhouse Jr. 56-57;A. Cindric 58-59;R. Blaney (P) 60-61;*. Herbst(i) 62;R. Blaney (P) 63-65;C. Elliott (P) 66-67;R. Blaney (P) 68;C. Elliott (P) 69-72;A. Bowman 73;A. Cindric 74;A. Bowman 75-76;A. Cindric 77-78;E. Jones 79;A. Bowman 80-81;A. Cindric 82;E. Jones 83-85;M. McDowell 86-87;*. Herbst(i) 88;M. McDowell 89;*. Herbst(i) 90-91;M. McDowell 92;*. Herbst(i) 93-94;T. Reddick (P) 95;*. Herbst(i) 96-99;T. Reddick (P) 100;M. McDowell 101;D. Hamlin (P) 102-104;K. Busch (P) 105-106;A. Dillon 107;B. Keselowski (P) 108-110;J. Logano 111-115;W. Byron (P) 116-119;B. Keselowski (P) 120-121;J. Haley 122;J. Logano 123-132;K. Larson (P) 133;J. Logano 134-143;C. Buescher (P) 144-145;J. Logano 146-148;W. Byron (P) 149-153;B. Wallace (P) 154-156;W. Byron (P) 157-158;A. Almirola 159-160;K. Harvick 161-164;C. Buescher (P) 165;A. Almirola 166-168;A. Bowman 169;A. Almirola 170;A. Bowman 171-176;K. Harvick 177-178;A. Bowman 179;C. Elliott (P) 180;K. Harvick 181-182;C. Elliott (P) 183;K. Harvick 184-186;R. Blaney (P) 187-188.

Leaders Summary: (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led) Joey Logano 7 times for 48 laps; Austin Cindric 7 times for 15 laps; Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 4 times for 14 laps; Alex Bowman 6 times for 13 laps; William Byron (P) 4 times for 12 laps; Kevin Harvick 4 times for 11 laps; * Riley Herbst(i) 5 times for 10 laps; Ryan Preece 1 time for 8 laps; Ryan Blaney (P) 4 times for 8 laps; Chase Elliott (P) 4 times for 8 laps; Aric Almirola 4 times for 7 laps; Michael McDowell 4 times for 5 laps; Brad Keselowski (P) 2 times for 5 laps; Erik Jones 2 times for 4 laps; Denny Hamlin (P) 1 time for 3 laps; Chris Buescher (P) 2 times for 3 laps; Bubba Wallace (P) 1 time for 3 laps; Christopher Bell (P) 1 time for 2 laps; Tyler Reddick (P) 2 times for 2 laps; Ty Dillon 1 time for 2 laps; Kyle Busch (P) 1 time for 2 laps; Kyle Larson (P) 1 time for 1 lap; Austin Dillon 1 time for 1 lap; Justin Haley 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 12,24,5,9,48,2,31,22,41,7

Stage #2 Top Ten: 6,24,22,3,9,99,5,14,77,45

Playoff Standings: 1. William Byron* – 3136 (6 Wins); 2. Ryan Blaney* – 3078 (2 Wins); 3. Denny Hamlin – 3108 (3 Wins); 4. Christopher Bell – 3080 (1 Win); 5. Chris Buescher – 3077 (3 Wins); 6. Martin Truex, Jr. – 3075 (3 Wins); 7. Kyle Larson – 3073 (3 Wins); 8. Brad Keselowski – 3060; 9. Tyler Reddick – 3058 (2 Wins); 10. Bubba Wallace – 3051; 11. Ross Chastain – 3050 (1 Win); 12. Kyle Busch – 3034 (3 Wins);

*Locked Into The Round Of 8

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series