NASCAR at Pocono 2017 Results: Ryan Blaney Holds Off Kevin Harvick for 1st Win

Ryan Blaney earned the first Monster Energy Cup victory of his career Sunday at Pocono Raceway in the Axalta presents the Pocono 400.

Blaney edged out Kevin Harvick to collect the checkered flag. Fox: NASCAR shared a replay of the race's final lap:

Below are the top 10 finishers from Sunday's race:

Axalta presents the Pocono 400 Results

1. Ryan Blaney

2. Kevin Harvick

3. Erik Jones

4. Kurt Busch

5. Brad Keselowski

6. Martin Truex Jr.

7. Kyle Larson

8. Chase Elliott

9. Kyle Busch

10. Matt Kenseth

With the win, Blaney assures himself a place in the championship playoffs. He also climbed to sixth in the playoff standings.

Congratulations rolled out on social media following Blaney's victory:

Kyle Busch, who led 100 of the race's 160 laps, was 10 laps away from his first win of the season before Blaney passed him for first place. Busch displayed great defensive driving to hold the No. 21 car off, particularly on the first straightaway as Blaney tried to sneak around on the inside.

Eventually, Blaney overtook Busch coming around the final turn. NASCAR writer Jeff Gluck enjoyed the nerve-wracking action: 

As Busch fell back, Harvick became Blaney's biggest challenger. Blaney showed a level of experience belying his age (23) as he maintained his grip on the top spot.

Blaney's late surge added drama to what otherwise looked to be a dominant win for Busch, who was racing without regular crew chief Adam Stevens while Stevens serves a four-race suspension.

Prior to the final laps, a pair of crashes midway through the day dominated the narrative.

The race ground to a halt on the 97th lap after Jimmie Johnson and Jamie McMurray had separate wrecks into the outside wall. A car failure led the No. 48 car to slam into the wall around the first turn. Moments later, McMurray experienced the same fate.

Fox Sports shared replays of the two crashes:

McMurray appeared to come away the worse for wear as the No. 1 car caught fire. NASCAR's official Twitter account showed McMurray exiting the vehicle:

"Certainly a big scare," Johnson said in an interview on FS1 (via FoxSports.com's Tom Jensen). "Haven't had a scare like that since 2000 at Watkins Glen."

Both drivers said brake problems led to their accidents.

Track workers needed a relatively significant amount of time to clean up the damage, leading to a red flag shortly before the end of the second stage, which was won by Kyle Larson.

Johnson and McMurray will look to rebound at next week's FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

With three wins, Johnson is already safely in the playoff field, so another poor result won't matter much in the grand scheme of things. McMurray, on the other hand, is still looking for his first victory.