Ryan Blaney led a dominating 171 of 263 laps to claim the trophy in overtime in Sunday-night-turned-Monday-morning’s Quaker State 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta’s EchoPark Speedway.
As impressive as the big number of laps led is the night-long extra effort Blaney turned in to mark his second win of the season and first since Phoenix in March. The 32-year old North Carolinian made the winning pass on the last lap in what had been a dramatic lap-by-lap night-long battle up front showcasing – and necessitating – some of the 2024 series champion’s best work.
His laps-led total on the 1.5-mile Atlanta high-banks is the most for a race winner at a drafting track since Richard Petty led 184 of 200 laps in his 1964 Daytona 500 victory.
Blaney’s No. 12 Team Penske Ford got the race-winning nudge forward on the last lap of overtime by Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell, whose No. 20 Toyota ultimately crossed the finish line three-wide alongside 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace and Spire Motorsports Carson Hocevar, who was leading when the field took the white flag signaling one-lap to go.
Wallace was later penalized for being out of bounds, dropping below the track’s yellow-line at one point as he corrected his car on that final overtime restart, battling Hocevar for position. The adjusted top-five with the penalty then placed Bell second to Blaney by .068-second – the JGR Toyota driver’s fifth top-five in the last eight races. Hocevar was scored third followed by the Toyotas of JGR’s Ty Gibbs and Legacy Motor Club’s Erik Jones.
“Pretty wild,’’ said a smiling Blaney, who started on the pole and swept both stage wins.
“Bubba gave me really good shoves on the restart, we got hooked up really good and then Bubba and I got a huge run down the front straightaway and I was able to get to the outside of Carson. Wasn’t able to clear him [then]. And then Bubba went three-wide bottom down the back which lined up for a really cool finish at the line.
“I really have to shout out Christopher Bell being right on my bumper through [turns] three and four and a big push. He was a big reason why we won the race so I appreciate that Christopher.”
It was an adventurous victory for Blaney, who faced challenges every lap and was forced to re-establish his position out front even after a three-hour plus red flag stoppage period for weather on lap 108 and the changing weather conditions.
Blaney has now earned Ford Motor Company’s last six NASCAR Cup Series wins and it marks a significant 750th victory for Ford Motor Company.
Despite the impressive race statistics, it took hard work and unrelenting spirit to pull off this second victory of the season. Hocevar ran among the frontrunners for much of the night and was a serious threat to win. The 23-year old driver of the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet earned his first career win in April at the series’ previous drafting track stop – Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. And came into the race full of confidence and vigor.
He was so optimistic about his chances, he joked with his team on the radio during the final restarts even singing into the radio just before the overtime green flag flew. He said he was part disappointed and part encouraged with the third place finish.
“Is there a sign for loser, we didn’t win,’’ Hocevar joked after the race. “I don’t know, I’m super happy with our day. I’m sitting there hanging around, looking at the fans, sitting about for the first part of stage three. Then all of a sudden with about 12 laps [remaining] we were up front and in contention to win
“It’s fun. Zero nerves up front,’’ he added with a grin.
It was also an impressive night for Trackhouse Racing driver Shane Van Gisbergen, the series’ road course ace finishing sixth for his third top-10 showing on an oval this season.
Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon was seventh, followed by the season’s five-time race winner Tyler Reddick, who won at Atlanta in February. Blaney’s Penske teammate, three-time series champ Joey Logano, was ninth scoring his sixth top-10 of the season. Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s Chris Buescher was 10th.
The night had a big effect on the TNT $1 million to-win In-Season Challenge with Bell’s runner-up showing bettering his JGR teammate Denny Hamlin’s 12th place showing to advance to next week’s Final Four round. He’ll join Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott, who finished 13th Monday morning, out-dueling JGR’s Chase Briscoe, who finished 36th after being collected in a crash.
Blaney’s win advances him past Hendrick’s William Byron, who finished 16th. And Front Row Motorsports’ Todd Gilliland advances with an 19th place effort, bettering Hendrick’s Alex Bowman, who finished 22nd.
The night also had major implications in the championship standings now with only six races remaining to set the 16-driver field that will compete in the Chase.
Hamlin retains the championship points lead, however Reddick cut the margin nearly in half at Atlanta with strong stage showings in addition to his top-10. He now trails his 23XI Racing team co-owner by 24 points. Blaney’s victory also moved him into regular season championship talk, cutting what was once a 100-plus point deficit to now only 65 points.
Jones finish kept him ranked 16th but Logano’s effort moed him up a position in the standings and he now trails Jones by only eight points. RFK’s Ryan Preece is ranked 18th, 26 points off Jones.
The NASCAR Cup Series next makes a nostalgic return to North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway for Sunday’s Window World 450 (7 p.m. ET, TNT, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Bell won the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro in 2025. The last regular season race at the historic track was won by NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon in 1996.
— NASCAR News Wire —
See race details at: Race Results, Driver Points Standings, Owner Points Standings, Cumulative Report, Infraction Report.
For complete race information, check out the Atlanta race page.