Ryan Blaney Drives to Pocono Victory

Ryan Blaney celebrates his second career Pocono Raceway win, emerging victorious in Sunday’s The Great American Getaway 400 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo: Holden Barnes | The Podium Finish)

LONG POND, Pa. — In the span of 2,587 days, Ryan Blaney returned to a place all too familiar for him at Pocono Raceway – Victory Lane.

Starting eighth in Sunday’s The Great American Getaway 400, Blaney and his No. 12 Wabash Ford Mustang Dark Horse team played the long ball game, finishing 29th in Stage 1 and 27th in Stage 2.

As typical since the advent of stage racing in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2017, Blaney’s team sacrificed track position toward the end of Stages 1 and 2 to opt for optimum track position for crunch time. While the Hartford Township, Ohio, native, focused on running toward the front for closing time, Martin Truex Jr. drove to a Stage 1 win as Denny Hamlin, the defending race winner, captured Stage 2.

Early on, Noah Gragson crashed in Turn 1 to bring out the first caution on Lap 15. Polesitter Ty Gibbs led the opening 17 laps before Truex, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, took the lead on Lap 18 to hold on for the Stage 1 win.

Ross Chastain found trouble when he hit the Turn 3 wall on Lap 54 with heavy right side damage that ended his afternoon. The typically charismatic Chastain was pragmatic about his mishap.

“I just flat spun out,” Chastain said. We were all sliding around, but I just spun out. I’m just worried about why I spun out.

“I’m a racecar driver in the NASCAR Cup Series, I shouldn’t be doing that. You don’t see us do that too often, so when I do it myself, I’m as surprised as everybody else.”

A plethora of strategies resulted in some lead changes, mainly with Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Gibbs, Josh Berry and Hamlin showing the way before the Chesterfield, Virginia, native won Stage 2.

Once Stage 3 was underway, incidents were plentiful with Todd Gilliland’s Turn 1 incident on Lap 115, a Turn 1 crash involving Austin Cindric, Corey LaJoie, Kyle Busch, AJ Allmendinger, Harrison Burton, Ryan Preece and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., a backstretch fracas on Lap 127 collecting Michael McDowell, John Hunter Nemechek and Zane Smith and fluid on the backstretch on Lap 133.

For a while, it appeared that Chris Buescher was in a position to win at Pocono. Leading 19 laps, the late race cautions derailed his team’s strategy, propelling Blaney into the lead on Lap 117.

Similar to the 2017 race, Blaney had an experienced veteran in Hamlin pursuing him for the win. Unlike the 2017 race in which Blaney bested Kevin Harvick by 0.139 seconds, he held off Hamlin by 1.312 seconds.

After performing a burnout, a customary feat typically not observed by Blaney, the Team Penske racer gave his flowers to his Jonathan Hassler-led crew on another solid race.

Ryan Blaney led the final 44 laps to win Sunday’s The Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo: Jennie Mae Lingle | The Podium Finish)

“I think things are just kind of falling into place for us,” Blaney said. “I feel like we have gotten to a great place on speed in the last two months, especially. I feel like we honestly had a couple races slip away from us which I thought we had a good shot at winning. It was nice to stick to the plan today and our plan was to have track position at the end. I knew our car was fast enough.

“I am super proud of the whole 12 team. The Wabash Ford Mustang was amazing. I appreciate Menards, Body Armour, the Wurth Group, Advance Auto Parts, DEX Imaging and everyone that makes this possible. It is so cool to win here again. I won here seven years ago for my first Cup win. The crowd, you guys were amazing. Thank you for being here all weekend.”

Despite being a Buckeye State boy, Blaney regards Pocono as a sort of home race. After all, that first win feeling and proximity to Ohio added to the moment on a special week for the defending Cup champion.

“No, at the time I wasn’t thinking about that,” Blaney shared. “I was trying to figure out how I was going to have fun that weekend and how to win that night. It was super special seven years ago to win here with the Wood Brothers and it is a special win here today.

“You love tracks that have special meaning to you, like your first win, and this place means so much to me. My fiancee and a ton of her family are here. I can’t wait to see them. I am so proud of the effort. I am looking forward to hopefully continuing this momentum to next week at the bosses track up in Indy.”

Hamlin, the runner-up, gave his thoughts on strategy made all the difference for the outcome at Pocono.

“It was when the 12 jumped the stage and we stayed out there to win the stage,” Hamlin said. “That was the moment he was able to jump us and from that point on, not enough laps to reel him back in.”

Bowman, the Chicago Street Course winner, nabbed a podium finish. With Chevrolet not leading any laps at Pocono, Bowman’s podium was as good as it got for the Hendrick Motorsports racer.

“We struggled with our car a lot in dirty air,” Bowman said. “Once we got clean air there in the end, I think most of our adjustments kind of hurt us a little bit; just got too free. Proud of my No. 48 Ally Best Friends Chevy team.

“It was a good run; we just needed a little bit more to get to the No. 12. Once I abused the right-rear tire for so long, it made Denny’s (Hamlin) job pretty easy to get around me. But yeah, it was a solid third place day.”

Ryan Blaney zips past the stripe to celebrate his first win at Pocono since June 11, 2017. (Photo: Jennie Mae Lingle | The Podium Finish)

Following a win at Iowa Speedway, Blaney seems to be on a roll this summer. Tallying 12 Playoff points in the past month, perhaps the longtime Penske racer is making a strong case with defending his championship in 2024.

“I think we are in a better spot at this time this year than where we were last year at this point,” Blaney observed. “I feel like our speed is better. Our execution is great. We are doing everything as a 12 group the best that we can. We have had some other unforeseen circumstances that have hindered some finishes and possible wins. I am so proud of this Team Penske group.

“All the men and women at the race shop, they work their butts off to try to get better and deal with the drivers when they say we need to get a lot better. I appreciate them and Roush Yates Engines and all the work they do and continue to do.”

Stage 1 Top 10 Results

1. Martin Truex Jr.
2. Denny Hamlin
3. Tyler Reddick
4. William Byron
5. Chase Elliott
6. Alex Bowman
7. Joey Logano
8. Brad Keselowski
9. Christopher Bell
10. Erik Jones

Stage 2 Top 10 Results

1. Denny Hamlin
2. Chase Elliott
3. Brad Keselowski
4. William Byron
5. Erik Jones
6. Kyle Larson
7. Alex Bowman
8. Christopher Bell
9. Joey Logano
10. Tyler Reddick

The Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono Raceway Race Results