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Ryan Blaney wins in photo finish to advance in NASCAR playoffs

TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) – Ryan Blaney beat Ryan Newman in a door-to-door race to the finish line to win Monday at Talladega Superspeedway and advance to the third round of NASCAR’s playoffs.

Blaney’s first win of the season came as he was desperately trying to remain in title contention. The playoff field will be trimmed from 12 drivers to eight next weekend at Kansas and Blaney was in danger of elimination before his Talladega victory.

Blaney joins Kyle Larson in the round of eight, with six spots sill available.

“This was a huge, huge race for us. I’m pumped up. We’re moving on,” Blaney said before spotting a young fan in the crowd wearing his shirt and handing the boy the checkered flag.

The race began Sunday until rain stopped it after the first stage and pushed the finish to Monday. It gave Blaney time to recover from a Sunday spin as he tried to enter pit road and it gave Ford and Team Penske the victory. Ford had won seven consecutive Talladega races until Chevrolet snapped that streak in April.

Blaney was the leader on a restart with two laps remaining and had a huge push from fellow Ford driver Aric Almirola to gain space on the field. Then Newman came charging along on the outside line with help from Denny Hamlin and he easily zipped past Blaney.

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