Ryan Blaney rallies for a NASCAR Cup Collection Victory at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday afternoon within the Straight Speak Wi-fi 500.
PHOENIX, Ariz. – Ryan Blaney accomplished a hard-earned Crew Penske sweep on the famed Phoenix Raceway in Sunday’s Straight Speak Wi-fi 500 – recovering from a number of early race setbacks to say his first NASCAR Cup Collection trophy of the 2026 season and reply his Penske staff’s Saturday IndyCar win on the observe with a spectacular and well-liked inventory automobile victory a day later.
Ryan Blaney Victory at Phoenix
A pair of pit cease points – together with a penalty for pitting exterior his field – put Blaney on the rear of the sphere twice early within the race, however the 2023 sequence champion was to not be denied – rallying again in his No. 12 Crew Penske Ford and taking the lead for good with ten laps remaining.
Blaney’s staff took two tires on a closing cease on a warning with 12 laps remaining and made his approach ahead after restarting on the second row.
He obtained round then race chief Ty Gibbs with ten to go after which held off Gibbs’ Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell, who led probably the most laps – 176 of 312 – however confronted an enormous process shifting up from an eighth-place place on the ultimate restart as the primary automobile to take 4 tires. With the recent Goodyear rubber, Bell at the very least stored Blaney trustworthy, reducing into the lead with every lap, however finally coming 0.399-second brief.
“Simply perseverance,” Blaney conceded of his afternoon. “I imply, all people on the 12-group persevered all day. We had a pair errors that we realized from, obtained higher, needed to come from the again a pair occasions.
“Clearly, the 20 [Bell] was the perfect automobile. However [Blaney’s crew chief] Jonathan [Hassler] made an amazing name to take two [on last stop]. We had been in a position to get the lead. Maintain them off. I don’t know what number of extra laps I may have held them off.
“Actually happy with all people at Crew Penske. We swept the weekend with [Josef] Newgarden successful yesterday, us successful right now. Can’t wait to see [team owner] Roger [Penske]. … Can’t say sufficient concerning the 12 guys for retaining their head down and doing what they do, and Jonathan once more for making an excellent name on the finish.”
NASCAR – IndyCar Double
Brilliant solar and temperatures close to 90-degrees welcomed an enormous crowd for Sunday’s second half of the well-received racing doubleheader weekend with each IndyCar and NASCAR marquee occasions. Most of the open-wheel racers stayed on the observe and located spots atop staff pit stands to look at the inventory automobiles compete.
And the Penske staff actually made the many of the distinctive doubleheader alternative.
It marks the 32-year-old Blaney’s 18th profession victory and second at Phoenix to vault him to second place within the championship standings – now 60 factors behind 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick, who noticed his historic three-race successful streak to begin the season finish with an eighth-place displaying Sunday.
Reddick ran among the many prime ten all through the race however by no means actually challenged for the victory.
“We form of simply hovered round fifth all day,” conceded Reddick, whose 23XI Racing staff co-owner Michael Jordan was once more trackside in assist of the group’s record-setting 2026 season begin.
“Trying on the board over right here, scored the fourth most quantity of factors on the day,” he added. “That’s form of what we have to preserve doing all 12 months to maintain the lead that we’ve got and try to dangle on to it. Strong day. If we’re not going to win, these are the form of days we have to have. Glad to get out of right here with some factors.”
Bell, the defending race winner, whose personal three-race successful streak final season included this Phoenix race, was understandably disenchanted to complete runner-up after main probably the most laps. The upside, nonetheless, is that his No. 20 JGR staff dramatically moved up from 18th within the championship standings earlier than the race to now sixth place heading to Las Vegas subsequent week. He and Blaney every gained a stage on Sunday.
“Finally, if we had extra inexperienced flag laps, I feel we may have made a run at him,” Bell stated. “I don’t know. You win some, you lose some. This one stings, however on the constructive aspect, I’m actually happy with our whole staff. It’s one thing to construct on. It was a day that we wanted. We obtained numerous stage factors, completed second – simply bummed every time they get away like that.”
Past Blaney and Bell, reigning sequence champion Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson completed third, adopted by Bell’s JGR teammates Gibbs, who now has back-to-back fourth-place finishes on the season, and Denny Hamlin.
Reddick’s teammate, Bubba Wallace, was sixth, adopted by Hendrick’s William Byron, Reddick, Spire Motorsports’ Michael McDowell, and Legacy Motor Membership’s Erik Jones. Standard driver Shane Van Gisbergen – the sequence highway racing ace – rallied to an Eleventh-place displaying even after being concerned in a number of incidents on the day.
The race’s 12 cautions tied the observe report for yellow flags. There have been eight leaders and 23 lead modifications.
Anthony Alfredo, who was subbing for Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman, completed thirty third within the No. 48 Chevrolet, collected in a multi-car crash with simply lower than 100 laps remaining.
Subsequent Up
The NASCAR Cup Collection heads to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for subsequent Sunday’s race. The Pennzoil 400 introduced by Jiffy Lube begins at 4 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Wooden Brothers Racing’s Josh Berry is the defending race winner.
