Clint Bowyer wins Stage 2, then spins; Blaney takes checkered flag with Kansas up next
Ryan Blaney beat Ryan Newman in a photo finish Monday afternoon at Talladega Superspeedway to earn a spot in the third round of NASCAR’s playoffs as the Monster Energy Cup Series shifts to Kansas Speedway.
Blaney’s first win of the season, in the rain-delayed 1000Bulbs.com 500, advanced him to the round of eight along with Kyle Larson. The field will be trimmed from 12 to eight during Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 in Kansas City, Kansas.
“Yeah, it was an amazing effort the last two days, to be honest with you,” said Blaney, who spun coming to pit road during Stage 1, which was completed Sunday before rain forced the rest of the race to finish Monday. “We spun out early yesterday and missed some big ones today. We were able to weave our way through.”
Blaney came to Talladega needing a big rally to remain in title contention. He was the leader on a restart with two laps remaining and had a strong push from his fellow Ford drivers until Newman charged to the lead in the top line; Blaney stayed in the bottom lane.
As an accident broke out farther back in the pack — one of several “Big One” multi-car wrecks Monday — Blaney pulled alongside Newman and beat him to the finish line by mere inches.
It was the sixth-closest finish in the history of Talladega, which celebrated its 50th anniversary this past weekend.
“We just came up that little bit short,” Newman said. “I don’t know what else to say.”
Emporia, Kansas native Clint Bowyer captured Stage 2 of Monday’s race in his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, for his first stage win of 2019. But it wasn’t a happy outcome overall for Bowyer: He spun out with a failed tire with 35 laps to go and his car got stuck on the apron, his wheels off the ground due to track’s steep banking.
Despite being located not far from his hometown, Kansas Speedway hasn’t been a great venue for Bowyer, either. He has an 18.5 average finish in his last 10 races here, though he did finish top-five in Kansas in May.
He’ll need an even better showing Sunday — probably an outright victory — as right now he’s squarely on the bubble for elimination.
Brad Keselowski won the May Digital Ally 400 race at Kansas Speedway, taking the lead from Alex Bowman with a bold move in his No. 2 Ford. After a caution, Keselowski held off Erik Jones and Bowman for the overtime win, his second career victory in Kansas in NASCAR’s premier series. The other came in 2013.
In last year’s at Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway, Chase Elliott captured the victory in one of the quietest races the track had seen since its grand opening in 2001. In winning, he staved off elimination and advanced to the final eight.
The three cautions that day tied for the fewest ever at the local oval — and two of those were planned competition cautions after the end of the first two stages. The other caution that day was for track cleanup after a car blew a motor.
Here’s the current field, with cutline, heading into this weekend:
1. Kyle Larson (win)
2. Ryan Blaney (win)
3. Denny Hamlin (+56)
4. Martin Truex (+48)
5. Kyle Busch (+41)
6. Kevin Harvick (+36)
7. Brad Keselowski (+20)
8. Joey Logano (+18)
—CUTLINE—
9. Alex Bowman (-18)
10. Chase Elliott (-22)
11. Clint Bowyer (-24)
12. William Byron (-27)
This story was originally published October 14, 2019 at 5:36 PM.