In a race that was significantly less chaotic than the Truck and Xfinity Series events on Friday and Saturday, Ryan Blaney did just enough to secure his first career championship. On a day where passing was incredibly difficult, if ultimately came down to a gutsy battle between Blaney and Kyle Larson over the last 30 laps of the race, with Blaney eventually muscling his way around the #5 car with 20 to go and never looking back. Meanwhile, Ross Chastain was able to run away from the battling pair to secure the race win, his second of the year.
Through the first 100 or so laps, William Byron was the top championship four contender as the field largely minded their manners and kept things drama-free. But on lap 108, Ryan Blaney – who qualified in 15th, but had great long run pace all day – closed the gap to Byron and worked his way by the 24 car. Shortly after that, fellow championship four driver Christopher Bell suffered a brake failure and slammed the outside wall in turn 3, ending his championship hopes for the second straight year, leaving just Blaney, Byron, and Kyle Larson to battle it out.
In the pit stops that followed Byron re-took the top spot of the Championship Four, though not the top spot in the race as Ross Chastain took point.
While Byron managed to stay ahead of the two remaining Championship Four contenders for a while, Ryan Blaney managed to get by the 24 car with 101 to go.
Green flag pit stops took place with about 70 to go, with Blaney managing to maintain his lead over Byron and Kyle Larson. However, Ryan Blaney started to implode a bit as he tried to get around Ross Chastain for the top spot. Chastain raced Blaney very hard, seemingly unbothered by the fact that Blaney was racing for a championship – which, we should note, is completely fair. Blaney started overdriving, became visibly frustrated several times, and even made contact with Chastain at one point, allowing Kyle Larson to start closing the gap.
However, before anything more came of that battle, Kyle Busch spun with 38 to go to bring out a caution. Pit stops ensued under yellow, which saw Ryan Blaney lose four spots, allowing Larson to take the top spot of the championship four drivers. Meanwhile Denny Hamlin and Erik Jones took two tires and occupied the front row for the ensuing restart.
With 31 to go the race went green again. Ross Chastain was able to fight back to the lead, while Larson sorted out second, Blaney third, and Byron fourth. The three were essentially under a blanket with 25 to go, with Larson and Blaney eventually pulling away from Byron.
With 20 laps to go, Blaney was able to muscle his way by Larson to take over the top spot among the Championship Four while Chastain maintained a two second lead. With eight to go, Blaney was nursing a full second lead over Larson, while simultaneously slowly closing on Chastain.
Fortunately, the race ran green all the way to the finish, avoiding a comical late race restart, allowing Ryan Blaney to claim his first career NASCAR Cup Series Championship! The championship is the second in a row for Team Penske, and their fourth overall.
Kyle Larson would come home in third, finishing second in the championship, while William Byron, despite his hot start, would fade late to finish fourth, putting him third in the championship. As was mentioned earlier, Christopher Bell suffered a DNF, finishing p36 and ending the year fourth in points.
Meanwhile, Ross Chastain picked up his fourth career Cup Series win in a big moment for Trackhouse Racing.
Final 2023 NASCAR Point Standings, courtesy of XFile345 on Twitter:
Featured photo from Pat Vallely.
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