Dave Blaney's hands were still shaking 15 minutes after the race, his mouth occasionally giving the hint of a quiver after what had to be one of his greatest days at Talladega Superspeedway – but also one of the most disappointing at the same time.
One can only imagine the range of emotions flowing through Blaney after finishing 27th in the Aaron's 499, despite leading as late as five laps to go.
It all went south when his drafting partner Kurt Busch gave an ill-timed bump, sending Blaney spinning as the race stayed green.
"It's just disappointing when you could have accomplished something pretty nice," Blaney said. "You had the car to do it, in position to do it – and just didn't make it at the end. So that's disappointing."
Blaney said all the team could take from it was "a morale booster." Just minutes earlier, even a top-10 finish would have seemed like a letdown from where he was running.
And now this: 27th place.
"It was just the wrong spot, and (Busch) just had me going and around we went," Blaney said. "That is what is going to happen late in the race. I can't believe it didn't happen more. You just get such huge runs, it shoves you in there and if there is nowhere to go, you're in danger of getting turned around."
Busch apologized for being a part of so many wrecks – he spun three different drivers on Sunday – but that won't help Tommy Baldwin Racing very much.
"I've been doing it so long, it is what it is," team owner Baldwin said. "We showed everybody we're capable of doing this, and that's the encouraging thing. This speedway stuff is not easy, and we showed we belong in this series today."
The lack of much-needed points will continue to sting, though. Because Andy Lally finished 19th, Baldwin's No. 36 car actually lost ground in its quest to get back into the top 35 in owner points.
If the team had been 36th heading into Richmond – ahead of Lally and the TRG Motorsports car – Baldwin's team would have been in the show because the Wood Brothers are skipping the next three races. Instead, the No. 36 car is nine points behind the No. 71.
"Now we've got to qualify," Baldwin said, smacking his hip and gesturing in frustration. "We run up front all day, and (Lally) runs in the back and beats us. That's the most aggravating thing out of it all. But we showed the world today we can run, so I'm happy about that."
In the future, though, Baldwin said he hoped Blaney's good runs at both Talladega and Daytona would assure the team drafting partners. TBR builds all of its own cars and gets engines from Earnhardt Childress Racing Technologies.
Blaney said he hoped he'd reflect on his race as "a really nice accomplishment for a little team."
But, he added with a laugh, "I don't know how I'll feel about it tomorrow."