Coca-Cola 600: Ryan Blaney snaps 59 race winless streak in a commanding victory at Charlotte

After running winless in the cup series for 59 races, Penske driver Ryan Blaney finally breaks through for a victory in the longest race of the year. 

Rain had pushed the race to Monday morning, as well as canceling the qualifying session. As a result, Byron started on the pole due to the performance metric. 

Byron led in the early portion of the race before Hamlin took it on lap 14, and then Bell took it from him a few laps later on. After the competition caution on lap 35, Byron got out front on the pit stops but would lose the lead to Ryan Blaney, who then lost it to Bell. Bell’s run would be interrupted by a spinning #84 of Jimmie Johnson, who got loose on the backstretch.

Byron’s crew got him out front for the lap 79 restart, which he led all the way until the end of the first stage, narrowly holding off a charge from the #20 of Christopher Bell.

Stage One Results:

1. #24
2. #20
3. #12
4. #45
5. #19
6. #11
7. #8
8. #6
9. #5
10.  #47

Byron remained out front after caution flag pit stops and took the lead from Michael McDowell in the #34, who had stayed out. On lap 117, Bell took the lead from Byron who began to slip slowly back through the top 10.

Green flag pit stops began on lap 145, 2nd place Reddick came down on lap 148 and Bell came down on lap 149. Bell’s crew would suffer a slow stop due to the #31 of Haley trying to navigate around him. Tyler Reddick in the #45 would blitz past Bell for the lead.

However, the race was halted on lap 155 due to more rain. The race would be briefly red flagged. Under the red, Aric Almirola and Bubba Wallace would have a heated conversation on pit road due to some on track clashes. Bell’s team would cut off some vinyl from his car, forcing him to go to the rear for the restart. 

We returned to green on lap 164, but we were immediately thrown under caution as the #84 of Johnson collided with his Legacy Motor Club teammate Noah Gragson in the #42 and spun along the back stretch. Both Gragson and Johnson would retire from the event, with the #43 Erik Jones running the race over 50 laps down. The #84 has not finished a race this year.

The race resumed on lap 170 with Reddick out front, but the green flag wouldn’t last for long as the #8 of Busch spun in turn 2, hitting the #6 of Keselowski and the #99 of Suarez. 

Blaney and Reddick lined up for the lap 182 restart, but again it would not last long. On lap 186, the caution flew for an incident between Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott on the frontstretch. Hamlin ran Elliott high coming out of 4, resulting in the #9 going into the wall. The #9 then ran into the #11’s right rear, hooking him into the outside wall. Both drivers would be out of the race. 

Chris Buescher led from the lap 192 restart and would score his first stage win of the year.

Stage Two Results:

1. #17
2. #4
3. #6
4. #22
5. #12
6. #20
7. #54
8. #24
9. #1
10.  #23

The #47 and the #8 stayed out for the restart to stage 3, Stenhouse Jr. led a lap before the #4 car got passed him. The #12 then ran the #4 down a few laps later and took the lead.

A few laps later, the #20 spun in turn 4 but didn’t hit anything, bringing out the yellow flag.

Byron and Blaney lined up side by side once more. Blaney jumped out in front of the Hendrick driver.

The caution flew on lap 274, Keselowski in the #6 got loose up high, resulting in him spinning the #51 of Todd Gilliland. 

Blaney and Byron lined up again on lap 282. Blaney held on out front and won stage 3, after a late challenge from Tyler Reddick.

Stage Three Results:

1. #12
2. #45
3. #19
4. #24
5. #54
6. #5
7. #8
8. #4
9. #47
10.  #48

Blaney led from the restart with 93 to go, Reddick charged after him. While running down the #45, Reddick got loose in 4 and ran through some grass, no caution was thrown. 

With 57 to go, the caution was thrown as the #34 of McDowell lost a wheel in turn 2. Under the caution, Blaney had a slow pitstop and was sent back to 6th. 

Byron got out front on the restart, but 9 laps later the caution would come out again as the #4 spun after contact from the #45.

A slew of cautions would ensue on the following restarts. The restart on 38 to go saw the #16 spinning in turn 4, collecting the #21. The 31 to go restart had the #2 of Cindric spin into the inside wall. A restart with 26 to go saw the #5 get lose, collecting the #54, who had been having a great run all day, and the #22 of Logano. 

The final restart went off with 20 to go, Blaney and Byron lined up one more time. The #12 car got out in front and ran away out front. Byron and Truex Jr. would try to run him down to no avail. Ryan Blaney won his first cup series race of the next gen era, leading a race high of 163 laps. 

Byron, who led the second most laps, finished in the runner-up position, improving his quest for his first Cup series title. 

Truex Jr. had a strong run all day but was unable to get up to the lead in time.

Bubba Wallace finished 4th after a series of issues on pit road that relegated him down the order. Wallace now has 3 straight top 5 finishes.

Tyler Reddick finished in 5th after a late battle with his teammate and being in contention during the later stages of the race. 

Featured Image Credits: Team Penske on Twitter