Ryan Blaney can breathe a little easier.
The Winner
Blaney’s been around the periphery of the series’s best drivers for a few years now, first in his final year with Wood Brothers (2017) and more recently in each of his first three years at Penske. He’s now made the playoffs in five straight seasons, but he’s yet to last to the championship race. He only has five career wins, even after yesterday.
Blaney’s a marketable figure—young, charming, something of a good-guy vibe. If he can climb into that top tier of drivers, it figures to be pretty good for NASCAR as a whole.
The Race
Kyle Larson led for most of the day, but when Joey Logano gave a fight as Larson lapped Logano, Blaney closed the gap, taking the lead with eight laps to go and holding on for the victory.
Notable Names
Larson finished 2nd.
Alex Bowman was 3rd.
Denny Hamlin picked up some front-end damage during a restart wreck that claimed Kurt Busch, but still finished 4th.
Kyle Busch was 5th.
Austin Dillon was 6th.
William Byron was 8th.
Martin Truex Jr. got bumped by Brad Keselowski at one point, but wound up 9th.
Kevin Harvick suffered a blown tire early, but recovered to finish 10th.
Matt DiBenedetto was 11th.
Ryan Newman was 13th.
Logano was 15th.
Bubba Wallace finished 16th.
Cole Custer was 18th.
Michael McDowell was 19th.
Aric Almirola was 20th, and nearly lost some crew members when Anthony Alfredo spun entering his pit stall behind Almirola’s.
Christopher Bell finished 21st.
Chase Briscoe was 23rd.
Erik Jones was 24th.
Tyler Reddick hit the wall early, finished 26th.
Keselowski took the worse damage from hitting Truex and ended the race 28th.
Chase Elliott’s engine failed, and the reigning champ ended the day 38th.
Kurt Busch was claimed by the aforementioned restart wreck and came in last (39th).
Standings
We’re only six races in, so this may be premature, but for whatever it’s worth:
1. Larson (1 win)
2. Truex (1 win)
3. Blaney (1 win)
4. Byron (1 win)
5. Bell (1 win)
6. McDowell (1 win)
7. Hamlin (133 pts ahead of playoff cut line)
8. Logano (70 pts ahead of cut line)
9. Keselowski (62 pts ahead of cut line)
10. Harvick (59 pts ahead of cut line)
11. Elliott (39 pts ahead of cut line)
12. Dillon (26 pts ahead of cut line)
13. Kyle Busch (19 pts ahead of cut line)
14. Bowman (13 pts ahead of cut line)
15. Kurt Busch (8 pts ahead of cut line)
16. Chris Buescher (last driver in as standings stand)
17. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (6 pts behind cut line)
18. Ryan Preece (9 pts behind cut line)
19. Wallace (26 pts behind cut line)
21. Newman (36 pts behind cut line)
22. Custer (39 pts behind cut line)
24. DiBenedetto (51 pts behind cut line)
25. Jones (53 pts behind cut line)
26. Almirola (57 pts behind cut line)
27. Briscoe (57 pts behind cut line)
28. Reddick (64 pts behind cut line)
Thoughts, Implications
Blaney struggled in last year’s first round of the playoffs, which was made of the same tracks as this year’s—Darlington, Richmond, and Bristol. So not only is the win nice for getting him into the playoffs, but the more playoff points he can stack, the better for him.
What’s Next
Up to Bristol for the dirt race next weekend. Heats on Saturday. Main event Sunday. Curious.
Videos, Fun Stuff:
Here’s the restart wreck that claimed Kurt Busch (started when Kyle Busch spun his tires):
Here’s Alfredo almost killing multiple crew members:
Here’s the winning pass from Blaney:
Here’s Larson, speaking the words we all feel:
