Blaney wins his way into the Championship 4 with shadow over race finish

In the closing laps of the race, it became a three-way fight for the win between Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, and Ryan Blaney.

Larson was in control, but Elliott and Blaney had 30-lap fresher tires to decide who would be part of the Championship 4.

With 25 laps remaining, Elliott finally made his way around Larson. Blaney then traded blows with Larson before getting by as well. With 14 to go, he stormed into the race lead and won the race.

Shadow over the finish

Blaney captured the checkered flag, but chaos was unfolding behind him for the final transfer spot. William Byron and Christopher Bell were in a tense points battle. In the final corner, Bell passed the rapidly slowing Toyota of Bubba Wallace and then rode the wall.

NASCAR is still deliberating, looking at the radios of the Chevrolets of Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain, as well as the Toyota of Wallace. At the checkered flag, Bell was tied with Byron and should be in via the tiebreaker. There was questionable radio communication from all teams involved.

The race results have Elliott in 2nd, Larson third, Cindric fourth, Hamlin fifth, Byron sixth, A. Dillon seventh, Chastain eighth, Keselowski ninth, Logano.

After a lengthy deliberation, NASCAR finally made a call: Bell was cited for a safety violation and removed from the playoffs, putting Byron back in.

Full story on that to follow…