It took 27 hours to get from the green flag to the checkered flag, but when it was all said and done, Ryan Blaney, the driver of Team Penske’s No. 12 Ford Mustang, earned the win on Monday afternoon in the 1000Bulbs.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.
Blaney edged out veteran NASCAR driver Ryan Newman by a margin of .007 seconds, which is reportedly only the sixth-closest Talladega margin of victory ever.
The win advances Blaney in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series’ playoff to determine the 2019 champion.
SO CLOSE.
0.007 seconds is the margin of victory! Relive the final restart and run to the finish by Ryan @Blaney and Ryan Newman for the win! #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/tPSghGRKyf
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) October 14, 2019
“We got together a little coming through the trioval,” Blaney said of his run for the start-finish line with Newman. “He pushed me below the yellow line, but I wasn’t going below there after what happened in the truck race.”
Blaney was referring to Saturday’s Gander Outdoors Truck Series at Talladega, when Johnny Sauter lost the win after being ruled out of bounds by NASCAR and demoted from first to the last truck on the lead lap.
“Now we don’t have to worry about next week,” Blaney explained, given that he advances in the championship hunt by virtue of his race win. “We can go and fight for another win.”
The race did not end without the traditional “big one” crash. Brendan Gaughan, driver of the No. 62 Chevrolet launched into the air during the escapade.
Things happen fast at @TalladegaSuperS.
And when they do … they’re big.?: NBCSN | #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/6tXUOQDB4D
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 14, 2019
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University, the editor of Breitbart TV and host of “The Jeff Poor Show” from 2-5 p.m. on WVNN in Huntsville.
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