Blaney Wins Thrilling Roval Debut

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Ryan Blaney won the Bank of America Roval 400 on Sunday afternoon from the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course.

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The race was the first at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Road Course, named the “Roval,” and the buildup to the race promised that the first elimination race of the Playoffs would be exciting on the tight track.

On the final lap, Jimmie Johnson caught leader Martin Truex Jr., and the two made contact in the chicane before the finish line.  Blaney was able to take advantage to win his first race of the season and lock himself into the next round of the Playoffs.

Blaney said he wasn’t expecting the two former champions to wreck coming to the finish.

“Sometimes it’s better to have a little bit of luck on your side,” Blaney said.  “You hate to see two guys get into there and tear up two of the best cars all day, but that’s racing sometimes.”

Johnson failed to make the next round of the Playoffs after wrecking coming to the checkered flag.  After driving through the chicane, Johnson had to come to a complete stop to avoid a penalty, which cost him just enough positions to end in a tie with Kyle Larson and Aric Almirola for the final spot in the next round.

After losing the tiebreaker to Larson and Almirola, Johnson said he wasn’t thinking about the Playoffs and wanted to get to victory lane.

“These wins are so important and the veteran would have taken the safe route,” Johnson said.  “Ultimately we were in a transfer position and didn’t get it.”

Larson drove a heavily-damaged car for the last five laps, and passed Jeffrey Earnhardt coming to the checkered flag to force the three-way tie.

Larson said he pushed his car to the limit to get the final point he needed.

“I could see the 96 [of Earnhardt] was still stopped, and I knew I needed that point to get to the tiebreaker,” Larson said.  “I knew I was screwed, then I saw they were all crashing [on the frontstretch] and it had to be 45 seconds before I got over there.”

The playoff field was cut from 16 to 12 drivers; Johnson, Austin Dillon, Erik Jones and Denny Hamlin were the four drivers eliminated from championship contention.

Unofficial results:

1. Ryan Blaney

2. Jamie McMurray

3. Clint Bowyer

4. Alex Bowman

5. Kurt Busch

6. Chase Elliott

7. AJ Allmendinger

8. Jimmie Johnson

9. Kevin Harvick

10. Joey Logano

11. Ryan Newman

12. Denny Hamlin

13. Matt DiBenedetto

14. Martin Truex Jr.

15. Regan Smith

16. David Ragan

17. Chris Buescher

18. Michael McDowell

19. Aric Almirola

20. Cole Whitt

21. Daniel Suarez

22. Ty Dillon

23. Daniel Hemric

24. Ross Chastain

25. Kyle Larson

26. Jeffrey Earnhardt

27. Justin Marks

28. JJ Yeley

29. Landon Cassill

30. Erik Jones

31. Brad Keselowski

32. Kyle Busch

33. Paul Menard

34. William Byron

35. Trevor Bayne

36. Darrell Wallace Jr.

37. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

38. Timmy Hill

39. Austin Dillon

40. Stanton Barrett

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