Going into this weekend, all-everything team owner Roger Penske had won 18 Indianapolis 500s and two Coca-Cola 600s. But until this weekend, “The Captain” had not won America’s two Memorial Day weekend races in the same year.
Ryan Blaney ended that “draught” by winning NASCAR’s longest race by distance and time, adding to Penske’s memorable weekend which included Josef Newgarden’s somewhat-controversial Indy 500 victory. There was nothing even remotely controversial about this one: Blaney led seven times for 163 of the 400 laps around the Charlotte Motor Speedway and was almost always within the top-10, if not the top-5.
The third-generation racer won by 0.663 seconds over Hendrick Motorsports star William Byron. Rained out on Sunday and rescheduled for Monday afternoon, the 600-miler began around 3 p.m. and ended at almost 9 p.m. The elapsed time of 4 hours, 58 minutes, and 50 seconds doesn’t include a 31-minute red flag for rain at lap 157.
When the checkered finally fell, Blaney was comfortably ahead of Byron, already a three-time winner this spring. Two-time 600 winner Martin Truex Jr. of Joe Gibbs Racing was third, Bubba Wallace of the Michael Jordan/Denny Hamlin 23XI team was fourth, and his 23XI teammate, Tyler Reddick, was fifth after contending for the victory much of the final 100 laps.
The victory was Blaney’s eighth in his 284-start Cup Series career and his first on the 1.5-mile CMS quad-oval. (He won on the track’s road course in 2018). His first Cup victory since August of 2021 in Daytona Beach—a puzzling slump of 59 races—made him NASCAR’s 10th winner in its first 14 races this year. (After last year’s 600, series had 11 winners).
Understandably, Blaney was more emotional that usual after the victory. “You start to get to feel like you can’t win anymore when you don’t win in a while,” he said. “It kind of gets hard. So, I’m super thankful to the 12 (his car number) guys for believing in me. Thank you, guys for sticking around; I really appreciate it.
“I was able to get the lead, and the car was so good I could bide my time a little bit. Then, I was able to drive off. I was hoping no caution just because you never know. I know we had the car to do it, but restarts can be crazy.”
Much like Sunday afternoon’s Indy 500, there were times when the Monday afternoon/Monday night race seemed like it might never end. It was slowed 16 times for 83 laps, 11 of them on-track incidents. Included in that dreadful stat were four multi-car accidents that ate away 19 of the final 40 laps. Blaney took the lead for good only after officials reviewed scoring loop data that showed him slightly ahead of Byron when the final caution waved at lap 376.
Many of NASCAR’s top stars ran well, but ended up in the garage with damaged cars. Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott went out together in a frontstretch incident that Hamlin said should keep Elliott from racing next weekend in St. Louis. He accused the 2020 series champion of intentionally hooking his right-rear and sending him head-first hard into the wall. It is an allegation NASCAR said it would investigate.
Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Daniel Suarez, Harrison Burton, A.J. Allmendinger, Aric Almirola, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Ty Gibbs, and Kyle Larson were involved in incidents that either ended their night or took them from contention.
NASCAR Cup Series Race – Coca-Cola 600
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Monday’s Results
1. (8) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 400.
2. (1) William Byron, Chevrolet, 400.
3. (18) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 400.
4. (7) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 400.
5. (15) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 400.
6. (5) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 400.
7. (10) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 400.
8. (11) Chris Buescher, Ford, 400.
9. (33) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 400.
10. (29) Zane Smith(i), Ford, 400.
11. (2) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 400.
12. (31) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 400.
13. (22) Ryan Preece, Ford, 400.
14. (27) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 400.
15. (16) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 400.
16. (36) JJ Yeley(i), Ford, 400.
17. (25) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 400.
18. (13) Harrison Burton, Ford, 400.
19. (3) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 400.
20. (20) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 400.
21. (17) Joey Logano, Ford, 400.
22. (14) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 400.
23. (24) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 400.
24. (9) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 400.
25. (23) Aric Almirola, Ford, 400.
26. (19) Ty Gibbs #, Toyota, 398.
27. (32) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 397.
28. (30) Michael McDowell, Ford, 396.
29. (34) BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, 392.
30. (12) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, Accident, 377.
31. (21) Austin Cindric, Ford, Accident, 369.
32. (26) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 341.
33. (35) Todd Gilliland, Ford, Accident, 265.
34. (6) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, Accident, 185.
35. (4) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, Accident, 185.
36. (28) Noah Gragson #, Chevrolet, Engine, 117.
37. (37) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, Accident, 115.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 120.468 mph.
Time of Race: 4 Hrs, 58 Mins, 50 Secs. Margin of Victory: .663 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 16 for 83 laps.
Lead Changes: 31 among 13 drivers.
Lap Leaders: W. Byron 1-13;D. Hamlin 14-32;C. Bell 33-36;D. Hamlin 37;W. Byron 38-41;R. Blaney 42-62;C. Bell 63-75;W. Byron 76-103;M. McDowell 104-107;W. Byron 108-116;C. Bell 117-147;C. Elliott 148-153;T. Reddick 154-181;R. Blaney 182-191;C. Buescher 192-203;K. Harvick 204;R. Stenhouse Jr. 205-208;K. Harvick 209-225;R. Blaney 226-232;K. Harvick 233;W. Byron 234-236;R. Blaney 237-276;K. Larson 277;W. Byron 278-281;R. Blaney 282-303;W. Byron 304-307;R. Blaney 308-344;K. Busch 345;W. Byron 346-359;Z. Smith(i) 360-362;W. Byron 363-374;R. Blaney 375-400.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Ryan Blaney 7 times for 163 laps; William Byron 9 times for 91 laps; Christopher Bell 3 times for 48 laps; Tyler Reddick 1 time for 28 laps; Denny Hamlin 2 times for 20 laps; Kevin Harvick 3 times for 19 laps; Chris Buescher 1 time for 12 laps; Chase Elliott 1 time for 6 laps; Michael McDowell 1 time for 4 laps; Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 1 time for 4 laps; Zane Smith(i) 1 time for 3 laps; Kyle Larson 1 time for 1 lap; Kyle Busch 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 24,20,12,45,19,11,8,6,5,47
Stage #2 Top Ten: 17,4,6,22,12,20,54,24,1,23
Stage #3 Top Ten: 12,45,19,24,54,5,8,4,47,48
Contributing Editor
Unemployed after three years as an Army officer and Vietnam vet, Al Pearce shamelessly lied his way onto a small newspaper’s sports staff in Virginia in 1969. He inherited motorsports, a strange and unfamiliar beat which quickly became an obsession.
In 53 years – 48 ongoing with Autoweek – there have been thousands of NASCAR, NHRA, IMSA, and APBA assignments on weekend tracks and major venues like Daytona Beach, Indianapolis, LeMans, and Watkins Glen. The job – and accompanying benefits – has taken him to all 50 states and more than a dozen countries.
He’s been fortunate enough to attract interest from several publishers, thus his 13 motorsports-related books. He can change a tire on his Hyundai, but that’s about it.
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