Ryan Blaney is moving on to the ‘Round of 8’ after a photo finish in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series event from Talladega Superspeedway, narrowly beating out Kevin Harvick at the start-finish line.
REPOST to congratulate Ryan @Blaney for WINNING at @Talladega!
Welcome to the Round of 8! #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/wygSMl5K44
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) October 1, 2023
The final 13-lap run of Sunday’s 500-mile contest featured lots of side-by-side racing, with the lead being massively contested over the course of the end of the event, without any major accidents.
Down the backstretch on the final lap, Blaney made a strong move to get to the inside of Harvick, becoming the new leader of the inside lane, and utilizing a strong push by William Byron to get to the line first, 0.012 seconds ahead of Harvick.
But, behind them, a massive accident unfolded, when Riley Herbst, driving the No. 36 Ford Mustang for Front Row Motorsports, got tipped in the left rear by Corey LaJoie, sending him down into the pack and collecting the majority of the pack behind them.
A @TALLADEGA THRILLER! #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/C3KBsOSCye
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 1, 2023
Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Chandler Smith, Alex Bowman, Justin Haley, Christopher Bell, Aric Almirola, Tyler Reddick, and several others sustained major damage in that last-lap melee, but at this point, there is no perfect tally of how many cars were involved.
