Kevin Harvick was right there in the hunt late Sunday, but Ryan Blaney was able to get past on the final lap.  The chaos on the final lap meant that he dropped to a 10th-place finish.  That was still good enough for Harvick to expand his points lead back up to 23 points.  That margin is over Joey Logano, who led 33 laps on Sunday, but ended up 17th.  Blaney's victory moved him up two places to third, just two behind his teammate.  Chase Elliott crashed on Lap 134 and ended up finishing 38th.  That dropped him two places to fourth.

Brad Keeslowski, despite spending most of the race towards the front, failed to lead a lap and finished 19th.  That dropped him to fifth in points despite 11 stage points.  Denny Hamlin moved up to sixth after a fourth-place finish that could have been much worse had he not been saved by the rain near the end of stage one.  Martin Truex Jr. started from pole, but once he lost the lead, never factored in.  He crashed on the final lap and finished 23rd, dropping him one place to seventh.  Alex Bowman remains in eighth, but gained significant ground on his rivals.

Kyle Busch was up front all day until he cut his right rear tire with 40 laps to go.  He ultimately lost two laps and finished 32nd.  That didn't cost him a spot, but he's now two-thirds of a race out of eighth.  Kurt Busch remains in 10th after a quiet ninth-place finish.  Jimmie Johnson finished 13th despite spinning to cause the Green-White-Checker restart.  He remains in 11th, while Aric Almirola moved up to 12th after spinning across the line in third.

Clint Bowyer was eliminated in the final lap crash and was credited with 25th.  That dropped him to 13th, while William Byron moved up to 14th in points with an 11th-place finish.  Matt DiBenedetto was eliminated in the same crash as Bowyer, dropping to 15th as a result.  Tyler Reddick won stage one and used those points to move back up to 16th.

Reddick's advantage is a single point over Erik Jones, who finished fifth after being forced to pit for fuel with eight laps to go.  Austin Dillon dropped to 18th after getting eliminated in Chase Elliott's crash.  Chris Buescher remains in 19th after finishing sixth, while Ricky Stenhouse Jr. moves up to 20th after winning stage two and finishing second.

Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kevin Harvick 490, 2) Joey Logano -23, 3) Ryan Blaney -25, 4) Chase Elliott -32, 5) Brad Keselowski -49, 6) Denny Hamlin -62, 7) Martin Truex Jr. -66, 8) Alex Bowman -71, 9) Kyle Busch -112, 10) Kurt Busch -121, 11) Jimmie Johnson -137, 12) Aric Almirola -153, 13) Clint Bowyer -162, 14) William Byron -171, 15) Matt DiBenedetto -178, 16) Tyler Reddick -184.
 

Note No. 1: Drivers in Bold have locked into the playoffs.
 

Playoff Points: 1) Denny Hamlin 18, 2) Joey Logano -5, 3) Brad Keselowski -6, t-4) Kevin Harvick -7, 5) Chase Elliott -8, 6) Alex Bowman -9, 7) Martin Truex Jr. -11, 8) Ryan Blaney -12, 9) Clint Bowyer -16, t-10) Jimmie Johnson -17, t-10) William Byron -17, t-10) Tyler Reddick -17, t-10) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -17.

Stage Points: 1) Chase Elliott 133, 2) Martin Truex Jr. -13, 3) Alex Bowman -14, 4) Ryan Blaney -19, 5) Joey Logano -24, 6) Kevin Harvick -35, 7) Denny Hamlin -56, 8) Kyle Busch -62, 9) Brad Keselowski -66, 10) William Byron -73, 11) Aric Almirola -77, 12) Clint Bowyer -83, 13) Jimmie Johnson -87, 14) Tyler Reddick -95, 15) Matt DiBenedetto -99, 16) Erik Jones -101.

Old Point Standings (1-16): 1) Kevin Harvick 444, 2) Brad Keselowski -21, 3) Denny Hamlin -36, 4) Kurt Busch -54, 5) Joey Logano -55, 6) Ryan Blaney -60, 7) Chase Elliott -70, 8) Martin Truex Jr. -88, 9) Kyle Busch -94, 10) Alex Bowman -102, 11) Aric Almirola -109, 12) Jimmie Johnson -111, 13) Matt DiBenedetto -112, 14) Erik Jones -118, 15) Clint Bowyer -122, t-16) Tyler Reddick -122, t-16) Chris Buescher -133.

Outside of the Top-16, but Still In The Playoffs: 19) William Byron -142.

Race Winners: Denny Hamlin (Daytona, Darlington-2, Homestead), Joey Logano (Las Vegas, Phoenix), Alex Bowman (Fontana), Kevin Harvick (Darlington-1, Atlanta), Brad Keselowski (Charlotte-1, Bristol), Chase Elliott (Charlotte-2), Martin Truex Jr. (Martinsville), Ryan Blaney (Talladega)

 
Note: Race wins in Italics do not count towards playoff eligibility.

"I wanted to take the bottom [on the Green-White-Checker restart]. I thought [Ricky Stenhouse Jr.] was a really good pusher all day and I thought the bottom lane could just kind of get out there and was gonna be good, but I don’t know if he spun his tires or what, but I didn’t get the help at all, but was able to kind of pick and choose lanes there and wanted to wait for a while until later on that last lap, but you don’t want to wait too long because the caution might come out. I was surprised the caution didn’t come out in three and four and I was lucky we were ahead, and then they got a big run again. I was kind of out too far down the frontstretch and I couldn’t really see who was outside. I knew there were some people and I just tried to go up and slow down and we kind of hit and beat and banged, and just another exciting one here." - Ryan Blaney, race winner

"Yeah, we were so close there at the end. It was hard all day trying to break up the Penske cars and then there at the end, all the blue ovals were together. But, our No. 47 NOS Energy Drink Camaro ZL1 1LE was really fast all day. The boys brought a good one. I thought we had a shot there at the end, it just didn’t work out. But, all-in-all, a solid day. Really cool to see all the support of the fans that are here for Bubba (Wallace). That was a really special moment at the beginning of the race. We came up one spot short – we’ll go get them next week!" - Ricky Stenhouse Jr., finished second
 

"I thought we had a shot to get our Smithfield Ford Mustang in Victory Lane. We had a really good car and our strategy was to stay out of trouble all day and be there at the end, and we were there at the end. It was close, but we just couldn’t get it done. I’m proud of all my guys on this team. We had a great week last week at Miami with a top five and leave here at Talladega with another top five, so we’ll keep building on that and it looks like the ball is going in the right direction for us." - Aric Almirola, finished third
 

"We had a good Camry, we just ran out of fuel there at the end and had to pit with just a few laps to go. But luckily, the caution came out and some other guys in front of us ran out of gas so we were able to get a few more positions and race to the finish. Overall, it was a good day and our car had good speed. Got into the wall there early in the race and we were able to rebound from that. The Talladega spring race hasn’t always been the best one for us so we’ll take this fourth-place finish and get outta here." - Denny Hamlin, finished fourth
 

"We kind of rode around today and just tried to stay clean – stay out of trouble – and give ourselves a chance there at the end, and that’s what we did. We got a fortunate yellow there after we had to pit for fuel. We got relined up and gave ourselves an opportunity. We had the momentum. We had the run in the end. [Ryan Blaney] kind of came up on us there. He moved us up the track, which in turn, kind of got us turned into the fence. It’s superspeedway racing. He’s doing what he has to win; I’m doing what I have to win, and it didn’t play out in our favor, so at least we were there and had a shot to win one of these things. They aren’t easy to win by any means, so it was nice to be up there." - Erik Jones, finished fifth

"Figuring out you are a couple laps short on fuel while leading a speedway inside 15 to go is not very much fun. We took the lead there and our fuel mileage number plummeted farther than we thought it would be. We thought we were good and then all of a sudden, we weren’t good. Led a bunch and had to give up the lead to try to make it there at the end. I saved enough once I gave up the lead, but so bummed. We had such a good car and definitely had a shot at winning. It is just one of those deals. Really appreciative of everyone at Valvoline and Hendrick Motorsports. P7 isn’t the end of the world, but man giving up the lead like that is a bummer." - Alex Bowman, finished seventh
 

"Well, we finished 11th today. We had a shot there at the win with about 29 laps to go and just got a push from Logano in the corner. I don’t know why it got loose there but it did. We lost our track position and then really just fought to get back from there and tried to save fuel at the same time. We pitted with two to go to get some extra fuel and we made a pretty good charge to the front there in the third lane. We had a good number of cars to the inside but ultimately finished 11th. It would have been nice to finish top 10 but we did finish a superspeedway race in one piece which is nice. I thought we had some great speed at times and great opportunities to lead the race. We just have to build on that and continue to get better. I feel like these races are always unpredictable but at the same time there is skill involved. We did a decent job of controlling the skill part we just have to keep working." - William Byron, finished 11th

"The deal that happened yesterday, sorry I’m not wearing my mask, but I wanted to show whoever it was that you’re not going to take away my smile and I’m going to keep on going. I’ve been a part of this sport for a really long time. I’m still kind of a rookie. I’m starting to figure this stuff out. We had a good race going today in our Victory Junction Chevrolet. But man, I know I should have won that damn race. We ran out of gas. It’s just the stars didn’t align for us complete, but all in all, we won today. The pre-race deal was probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to witness in my life. From all the supporters. From drivers and crew members. Everybody here. The badass fan base; thank you guys for coming out here." - Bubba Wallace, finished 14th
 

"We’re getting closer and closer to winning one of these races. We had a really fast No. 8 Realtree Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE today, really just needed a bigger fuel cell to make it through those closing laps without having to come to pit road. We were a little bit loose today, but the car was able to suck up to others really well, which made it easier for me to work with people and show them that they can trust and work with me in return. It was awesome to get my first Cup career Stage Win, even if we had to wait out a brief rain shower for it. I think that showed a lot of people that we really strong speed today. From there, we just played it smart and stayed out of trouble to be there in the closing laps. We managed to grab the lead with about 16 laps to go. It was tough to maintain the lead and save fuel since we knew we were right on the edge of making it. I thought maybe we would make it before that final caution came out, but then the No. 11 ran out of gas or had a bobble or something. Once he ran out, my main help was gone and the No. 12 was able to slide by as we slid back. But that is how it goes at plate-racing. Timing is everything. It was just chaos on that final restart, but we gave it everything we had. All in all, it was a great day. We were in the lead with a shot at the end, and that’s exactly where you want to be. I want to thank Realtree for letting me run their Timber camo pattern on my car, and I hope they enjoyed the show." - Tyler Reddick, finished 20th

"I hate it. We really started the day struggling pretty bad and finally got it going pretty good, I thought, later on. Ultimately, just got in a bad spot there and went around." - Chase Elliott, finished 38th (Crashed out)

Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.  Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.