NASCAR at Talladega 2019 Results: Ryan Blaney Tops Ryan Newman in Photo Finish

Ryan Blaney claimed the checkered flag at Talladega Superspeedway with a photo finish in the 1000Bulbs.com 500.  

The No. 12 car began in front of a restart with two laps remaining and just barely held off Ryan Newman for his first win of the year.

The completion of the race was pushed back to Monday because of rain on Sunday, but there was still plenty of drama with several major crashes affecting the final standings. Blaney was mostly able to avoid the mess before outdueling Newman in a fantastic finish. 

The victory also clinches a spot in the round of eight alongside last week's Dover winner, Kyle Larson, with just one more week before the next cutdown.  

Final Results

1. Ryan Blaney

2. Ryan Newman

3. Denny Hamlin

4. Aric Almirola

5. Michael McDowell

6. Austin Dillon

7. Corey Lajoie

8. Chase Elliott

9. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 

10. Ty Dillon

Full results at NASCAR.com.

It was an exciting race throughout, so there was no surprise it ended with an unbelievable finish as Blaney pulled out the win:

He ended up 0.007 seconds ahead of Newman for the victory—the sixth-closest in Cup history.

The race began Sunday with Chase Elliott beginning on the pole and William Byron winning Stage 1 before the poor weather around the Birmingham, Alabama, area led to a postponement. When competition resumed Monday, it was Byron and Blaney who started on the front row with more than 100 laps still left to decide this playoff race.

There was more than enough action in this time, with every playoff driver being involved in a crash in some way.

The first major collision came just before the end of the second stage:

Larson, Alex Bowman and Jimmie Johnson were all knocked out of the race, while several other playoff contenders like Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin were involved in the wreck.

Bowman also took responsibility afterward as others agreed:

Clint Bowyer avoided damage and was able to win Stage 2, which could go a long way for his playoff hopes. However, his final position suffered after getting stuck on Lap 153.

It was difficult for anyone to take control of the third stage, with several top drivers rotating in front. Of course, it didn't seem to matter with several more cautions slowing down the race.

Byron and defending series champion Joey Logano were front and center at a major pileup with 26 laps remaining:

This left only six playoff drivers on the lead lap at the time, although the field narrowed even more on Lap 182:

Everyone looks for The Big One at Talladega, and there were a few that seemed to qualify.

Blaney led the restart with two laps remaining and did just enough to pull out the win. 

Next week represents the final event in the round of 12 with the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway. The drivers currently outside the cut line will likely be extremely aggressive trying to get a win and a spot in the final eight.