AP Photo BRENDAN GAUGHAN FLIPS in Turn 3 as driver Kurt Busch (1) and David Ragan (38) pass underneath during a NASCAR auto race at Talladega Superspeedway, Monday.

TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) — Ryan Blaney emerged safely from the wreckage at Talladega Superspeedway that claimed other playoff contenders, winning by a tiny margin that was huge for his championship hopes.

Blaney beat Ryan Newman in a door-to-door race to the finish line to win Monday and advance to the third round of NASCAR’s playoffs.

Blaney’s first win of the season came as he was in danger of getting eliminated from title contention. The playoff field will be trimmed from 12 drivers to eight next weekend at Kansas. Blaney had little margin for error after he had mechanical issues at Dover last weekend and finished 35th.

“Our mindset really was we had to win one of these two races,” Blaney said. “We were so far back in points. I know Talladega’s a wild card. There was a lot of wrecks today and a lot of guys got tore up. But we didn’t really get any stage points and we were already pretty far behind the eight-ball.

“We knew we had to probably win one of these two weeks. It’s just a huge relief.”

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

After the win, he spotted a young fan in the crowd wearing his shirt and handed the boy the checkered flag.

The race began Sunday but was postponed by rain after the first stage. The delay gave Blaney time to recover from a Sunday spin as he tried to enter pit road, and ended with Ford and Team Penske as winners. Ford had won seven consecutive Talladega races until Chevrolet snapped that streak in April.

“An amazing effort the last two days, to be honest with you,” Blaney said. “From spinning out early yesterday, missing some big ones today, weave our way through … It just means a ton. I’ve been coming here ever since I was really young. I love coming here. Love it even more now.”

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.

But the Ford train remained committed and Blaney got another push from Almirola to pull alongside Newman. The two raced door-to-door to the finish line, with Blaney winning by a nose. The 0.0070-second margin of victory was the sixth-closest in the history of Talladega, which celebrated its 50th anniversary all weekend.

The win capped a remarkable weekend for the Penske organization, which on Saturday claimed the IMSA overall sports car championship with Dane Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya, and then in Australia won the Bathurst 1000 with Scott McLaughlin and Fabian Coulthard.

It was Ford’s sixth straight Talladega playoff victory and Team Penske’s seventh win in the last seven Cup races at the Alabama superspeedway.

The race had critical playoff implications as many of the title contenders struggled, and Hendrick Motorsports’ entire lineup is at risk of elimination next weekend. Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott and William Byron are all below the cutline, as is Kansas native Clint Bowyer, who could be eliminated at his home track.

The race was stopped with seven laps remaining after an accident at the front of the field. Stenhouse and Kyle Busch were side-drafting for the lead when Busch suddenly spun to the right, directly into title contender Brad Keselowski. The chain reaction caused Brendan Gaughan’s car to flip over the car of Kurt Busch and land on its wheels.

“Mother, it is OK, it is just a flip and it didn’t hurt, I promise,” Gaughan said into a television camera. “It was just one easy, quick flip and we put it down.”