From Ty Dillon‘s car bringing along a fiery gas canister along with him while exiting the pit road to several cars crashing moments before the checkered flag, the YellaWood 500 saw it all. Even with the horsepower of the cars brought down to 450, Talladega stood out for being one of the wildest racetracks in the arena of NASCAR. To top it all off, Team Penske speedster Ryan Blaney seized his third victory at Talladega Superspeedway in a photo finish, holding off Tony Stewart’s Cup driver in the 188th lap.

Kevin Harvick‘s day got ruined after NASCAR disqualified him during the post-race inspection. That took away his commendable 2nd place finish and pushed Hendrick Motorsports sensation William Byron to the second place. However, that did not dim the driving prowess that Ryan Blaney flaunted with his last-minute on-track decision.

Kyle Petty explained how Logano, instead of Harvick, could have made it harder for Ryan Blaney

When Kevin Harvick seized the lead and steered forth the asphalt-shrouded surface of the 2.66 mile-long tri-oval, fans cheered loud, expecting to witness their favorite Stewart-Haas Racing driver’s first win of the season and perhaps the last win of his career. However, those hopes turned cold as Ryan Blaney displayed an expert level of calculation and judgment before he swerved to the left of Kevin Harvick and made a risky pass to move to the front of William Byron and clear everyone along the inside.

When cars go as far as three or even four wide in a restricted plate track, making such decisions becomes the need of the hour. However, it also shows your presence of mind and your power of accurate anticipation. The number 12 driver extremely impressed NBC Sports writer and journalist Nate Ryan and he expressed the same while talking to Kyle Petty.

Ryan admitted, “I thought this was one of Ryan Blaney’s best moves. Essentially, what Blaney did was to snooker Kevin Harvick by changing lanes when Harvick tried to pull in front of him on the backstretch. Blaney dipped down in front of William Byron in one of those split-second decisions…”

Kyle Petty, however, felt like it was more of a countermove. Petty said, “It was not a move. Because at that point in time, Kevin Harvick controlled the race. So, it was a great countermove. He read it perfect, he made the perfect move, the timing was perfect.”

However, the 63-year-old NBC analyst felt like if it were Kevin Harvick’s longtime rival Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney might not have been able to pass the leader that easily. “Joey Logano can block three lanes at one time,” he said. “Kevin has just not been in this position, so let’s just be honest about it. It’s been a while since Kevin has been at the front of this type of race.”

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Amidst all the flowers showered on him, Ryan Blaney felt like someone helped him to secure his direct pass to the round of 8. And moments after the race was over, he revealed the name.

Ryan Blaney received a helping hand from a rival team

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According to unofficial sources, Ryan Blaney finished by a narrow margin of 0.012 seconds ahead of Kevin Harvick. After crossing the start-finish line, Blaney slid out of his #12 Pennzoil car and climbed up its roof in celebration of his win.

Blaney declared that he himself was not sure how he passed Harvick in such a tight situation. He felt like he faced the greatest challenge in gaining the momentum back in the last couple of laps. During those decisive moments, Blaney’s only chain of thought was to clear to the bottom, get to the front row, and drag race with Harvick. But who was it that came to his aid?

During the post-race interview, Blaney said, “You just kind of drag race a line and hope you get help. William (Byron) gave me a pretty good shove on the bottom. He’s kind of forced.”

However, Kyle Petty felt like it was solely Blaney’s credit for what he had done. He told Nate Ryan, “…that takes nothing away from what Ryan Blaney did. It was still incredibly close. He (Blaney) does understand what’s going on and where to put his car in those last couple of laps. It was impressive. That was the most exciting part of the whole day.”

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