By Matt Marr
Pole sitter Aric Almirola led Joey Logano and the rest of the field to the green flag for the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.
When Ricky Stenhouse Jr. surprisingly ran out of gas on the final lap of the first stage, Kyle Busch hit a swerving Ross Chastain, sending Chastain into the wall and ending his day. Ryan Blaney wound up winning the stage under caution.
The race remained pretty tame through Stage Two, though often the field was running three-wide around the entire track.
With draft help from Austin Dillon and Chase Briscoe, Brad Keselowski passed William Byron on the last lap of Stage Two to win it.
Again, the final stage remained mostly three-wide, but as the laps ticked down, it was clear that a wreck was imminent. Multiple cars were involved in the Big One with 27 laps remaining - including Keselowski, A.Dillon, Carson Hocevar, and Ty Gibbs.
The three lanes of traffic battled for position throughout the final 20 laps. On the final lap Ryan Blaney, with a push from Riley Herbst, threaded the needle between Kevin Harvick and William Byron to take the lead and hold on for the victory in a photo finish.
Harvick initially finished P2, but failed post-race inspection for unsecured windshield fasteners and was disqualified.
YellaWood 500 Top 5:
1. Ryan Blaney
2. William Byron
3. Denny Hamlin
4. Corey Lajoie
5. Austin Cindric
Notables:
6. Justin Haley
9. Riley Herbst
11. Chandler Smith
12. Todd Gilliland