Stat Sheet: Is Ryan Blaney the New Superspeedway King of Cup?

It took until nearly two in the morning, but Ryan Blaney edged past Christopher Bell and Carson Hocevar to win the Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway last Sunday (July 12). It is Blaney’s second win of the 2026 season and the 19th of his NASCAR Cup Series career.

Blaney not only won the race but dominated along the way, leading 171 of the 263 laps in a race that was capped off by an overtime finish. In total, Blaney has won six superspeedway races and has earned a reputation as one of the best active drivers in the Cup Series at that track type.

So, on this week’s edition of Stat Sheet, we will examine whether or not Blaney should be crowned the new superspeedway king of the Cup Series.

As aforementioned, Blaney boasts six superspeedway wins in his Cup career, and those triumphs cut across different tracks and eras. Three of Blaney’s wins came in the Gen 6 car, while the other three have come since 2022 in the Next Gen car. That makes Blaney one of just seven drivers with multiple superspeedway wins in the current car.

After a long night’s work Sunday into the wee hours of Monday, Blaney currently sits in a tie for second for Next Gen superspeedway wins with Chase Elliott and Tyler Reddick, one win behind William Byron.

So, what makes Blaney the better superspeedway over Byron and the others listed above? It comes down to two factors: versatility and dominance. First, for the versatility, Blaney has taken visited victory lane at all three active superspeedway tracks, while Byron has yet to win at Talladega Superspeedway. In fact, Blaney is one of just two Cup cars that pilot the Next Gen to victory at the three superspeedways, with Reddick being the other.

Next, we have the dominance. Narrowing it down to those seven multi-time winners, let’s look at the most laps led at superspeedways among that group.

Again, Blaney comes in second with 508 laps led, but this time it’s to his Team Penske teammate Joey Logano, who has paced the field for 748 laps at superspeedways in the Next Gen era. Meanwhile, Blaney is well ahead of Byron, who falls to fifth on this list with 269 laps led. Between Blaney, Logano and Austin Cindric in third, Team Penske has been the juggernaut team of superspeedway racing over the past five seasons.

Now, to distinguish between Blaney, Byron and Logano, let’s add in one more variable: consistency. One of the best statistics for consistency is top-10 finishes, so let’s compare those numbers at superspeedways for the three remaining contenders.

Blaney edges ahead with 15 superspeedway top 10s to Byron’s 11 and Logano’s seven.

Therefore, when putting together his versatility, dominance and consistency, Ryan Blaney has established himself as the new king of superspeedway racing in the Cup Series.

Crunching the Numbers from EchoPark Speedway

5: Top-10 Finishes for Erik Jones in 2026

Erik Jones and the No. 43 team continue one of the surprises of the 2026 campaign.

When all was said and done in The Peach State, Jones took the checkered flag in fifth place, good for his fifth top-10 finish of the season. That already matches Jones’ top 10 total for all of 2025 with 16 races to spare in 2026. Furthermore, Jones’ average finish of 16.8 is a near four-position boost from 2025 (20.2).

Legacy Motor Club’s noticeable improvement has helped lift Jones into the thick of the conversation for a Chase spot. However, it will need to sustain its improvement with Jones clinging to the 16th and final spot, just eight points ahead of three-time Cup champion Logano.  

19th: Finishing Position for Todd Gilliland

It may not have been flashy, but a finish of 19th was enough for Todd Gilliland to topple Alex Bowman in the quarterfinals of the Cup Series’ In-Season Challenge.

As the No. 25 seed, Gilliland is playing the role of underdog that Ty Dillon filled in the inaugural In-Season Challenge last year. To follow in Dillon’s footsteps and advance to the championship round at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Gilliland will first have to get through another Hendrick Motorsports driver in Elliott in the semifinals at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

With it being the first Cup points race at North Wilkesboro since 1996, there is not much to data to go off of other than three All-Star Race weekends. In the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro, Elliott has a best finish of fifth in both 2023 and 2025. Gilliland, meanwhile, competed in the All-Star Open, placing no better than 12th in 2024.

25: Laps Led by Carson Hocevar

Carson Hocevar has been a consistent presence in the Cup Series spotlight, and Sunday’s race was no different. Hocevar paced the field for 25 laps, and he also boasted the 10th-best average running position of 10.62.

Hocevar took the white flag out front, but not the checkered flag, as Blaney and Bell eked past him, settling for third place.

However, if Hocevar continues to keep his No. 77 out front, he will back up that first career win at Talladega with another soon enough.