Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney returned to the site of his first career NASCAR Cup Series win and pulled away from the field in the closing laps of Sundayโs The Great American Getaway 400 at a sold-out Pocono (Pa.) Raceway to deliver a strong reminder to the competition that heโs primed to contend for another season trophy.
Blaneyโs No. 12 Team Penske Ford held off the trackโs all-time winningest driver Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota by 1.312s to give Blaney his second victory of the season โ both coming in just the last month — and the 12th win of the 30-year oldโs career.
โHell yeah boys, letโs go!” an elated Blaney screamed to his team as he crossed the historic Pocono finish line.
With the victory, Blaney moves up to fifth place in the championship standings and thanks to his first win of the year at Iowa Speedway in June, heโs one of only five drivers with multiple victories on the season.
โFeel like weโve gotten to a great pace and speed the last couple months. Honestly thought we let a couple races slip away from us I thought we should have won,โโ Blaney said, adding, โItโs just so cool to win here again. Won here seven years ago for my first Cup win, so awesome to be back.โโ
Although he ran among the top 10 for much of the race, Blaney ultimately took the lead on a restart with 44 laps remaining and never relinquished it despite two more restarts and a highly-motivated Hamlin lining up either alongside him or directly behind him on each of those green flags.
Last weekโs race winner, Hendrick Motorsportsโ Alex Bowman, filled Blaneyโs mirrors for much of the closing laps until getting passed by Hamlin with seven laps remaining. Bowman finished third with his Hendrick teammate William Byron and Blaneyโs Team Penske teammate Joey Logano rounding out the top five.
โTrack position was just such a big thing and when that No. 12 jumped on that stage we won, that put them in front of us and certainly were going to be hard to pass,โโ said Hamlin, a seven-time Pocono race winner who won Sundayโs second stage.
โJust not enough laps of green there at the end, but hats off to them, great run. He kept up great pace at there at the front and hard for me to even get up there close enough to try to reel him in.โโ
23XI Racingโs Tyler Reddick, Roush Fenway Keselowskiโs Brad Keselowski, JGRโs Martin Truex Jr. (the opening stage winner), Hendrickโs Chase Elliott and 23XIโs Bubba Wallace rounded out the top 10. Both Elliottโs and Wallaceโs finishes, in particular, were impactful on the championship standings.
The 2020 series champion Elliott took over the championship lead from his teammate, 2021 series champ Kyle Larson and takes a slim three-point advantage atop the regular season standings with only five races remaining before the Playoffs. The regular season champion receives a valuable 15 extra Playoff points to carry with him through the 10-race Playoff run.
Wallaceโs top 10 was also important in his quest to become championship eligible for the second consecutive year. He is now ranked 17th, only 27 points behind 16th place Ross Chastain with the top 16 drivers following the Sept. 1 race at Darlington, S.C. eligible for the championship.
Chastain, one of four drivers inside the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff field without a win but based on points, finished 36th on Sunday. His No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet slammed the Turn 1 wall on lap 53 and the team had to retire the car.
Additional replays of this 8-car crash at Pocono Raceway on the restart involving Kyle Busch.
: #NASCAR | USA Network pic.twitter.com/dYIDKXukpZ
โ NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 14, 2024
Richard Childress Racingโs Kyle Busch was involved in a multi-car accident with 39 laps remaining and finished 32nd Sunday. Heโs now finished 27th or worse in four of the last five races and is ranked 19th in the standings, 102 points behind 16th place Chastain. The two-time series champion is not only trying to make the Playoffs but extend a career winning streak to 19 seasons.
The NASCAR Cup Series moves to the famed 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway for Sundayโs Brickyard 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, NBC, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Race Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Front Row Motorsports driver Michael McDowell won last yearโs Indy race, but it was on the road course. The last driver to win a race on the 2.5-mile speedway is recently retired driver Kevin Harvick in 2020.
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