Race Weekend Central

Ryan Blaney Snaps Winless Streak With Coca-Cola 600 Victory

Ryan Blaney won his eighth NASCAR Cup Series race this Monday (May 29) night, snapping a 59-race winless streak. This race marks his second victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway and his first in the Coca-Cola 600.

“I might shed a tear, man this has been a cool weekend, obviously memorial day weekend, it means a lot,” Blaney said in his post-race interview with FOX. “Going up here watching dad run this race for a long time it’s so cool to be a part of it, let alone win it. Yeah, I just was able to get the lead on the restart. That car was so good that I could kind of bide my time a little bit and be able to drive off.”

Blaney held off a hard-charging William Byron, the stage one winner, in the closing laps, lengthening his gap to over a second before it began to shrink. After a caution-filled race, the last few laps went caution-free, allowing Blaney to take the victory without incident. Behind Blaney and Byron were Martin Truex Jr., Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick rounding out the top five.

The win is Blaney’s first in a Next Gen racecar, after failing to find victory lane in 2022 despite a playoff appearance and a breakout 2021 season.

Blaney set himself up for the win with a victory in stage three and later made the pass for the lead after positioning himself on the inside for a restart with 26 laps to go. After a push from Truex, he capitalized on Kyle Larson’s late-race spin that took out both Larson and Ty Gibbs from contention. Blaney was ahead of Byron at the time of the caution and never relinquished the lead, despite the pressure from his competitors and nearly wiping out with 18 to go.

See also
Chase Elliott Tags, Wrecks Denny Hamlin in Coca-Cola 600

The Next Gen cars once again demonstrated a heightened level of parity at Charlotte. Though Blaney was a contender ever since taking the lead for the first time on lap 43, there were no clearly dominant cars, and the close racing produced an innumerable amount of incidents.

LEGACY Motor Club had major issues as an organization. Jimmie Johnson’s return to intermediate racing was flipped on its head when he spun from 24th on lap 76. Afterward, Noah Gragson and Erik Jones both ran over the same piece of debris, bringing all Legacy MC cars behind the wall. All were able to return to the track, but Johnson spun once again and he and Gragson returned to the garage, both failing to finish the race.

Jones continued, finishing in 32nd, over 50 laps down.

The biggest incident by far all day occurred on lap 186, which saw Chase Elliott turn into Denny Hamlin’s right rear after Elliott was crowded into the wall. Hamlin’s car hit the outside wall at full speed and Elliott’s car had major damage on all sides, resulting in both cars being out of the race.

“I got right-rear hooked, in the middle of the straightaway,” Hamlin told FOX after getting out of his car, “Yeah it’s a tantrum and he shouldn’t be racing next week. I don’t care, it’s the same thing Bubba Wallace did with Kyle Larson.”

The incident Hamlin referred to was a similar crash that occurred at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in October of 2022. That incident resulted in Wallace’s suspension. No official word has been said yet on whether Elliott will start next weekend’s race at World Wide Technology Raceway.

Elliott avoided referencing intention and said on the incident after pulling his car into the garage area: “I can’t hear you but, the (No.) 11 ran us up into the fence right there and once you tear the right sides off these things it’s kind of over.”

The incident came after good runs by both drivers in the early running.

Coca-Cola 600 Results From Charlotte

The NASCAR Cup Series will return for another intermediate track race, this time at Gateway. The race will take place Sunday, June 4 and will be broadcast live at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1.

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Carl D.

Great win for Blaney’s team. They were stout all day today. Their car may have looked like a bullfrog in a blender, but it was fast.

Hogs&Horsepower

I said to myself that Chastain should’ve driven it, it looked like a watermelon to me!

Christopher

Is there no one in Jimmie Johnson’s life that is honest enough to tell him that he is a has-been as a driver? It’s embarrassing, like watching Ali ‘fight’ long after his prime.

DoninAjax

He was gifted seven titles and his ego tells him he deserved them.

Hogs&Horsepower

Donin, your child-like foolishness and hatred of so many drivers is hilarious. Keep up the comedy show.

DoninAjax

I’m in Ajax! Just outside Toronto, That’s in Ontario. That’s a province in Canada.

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