March 9, 2026

Team Penske's Ryan Blaney won the Straight Talk Wireless 500 at Phoenix Raceway after suffering some setbacks during the race. Blaney began the race from the fifth position, but quickly showcased plenty of speed in his No. 12 Ford in the first stage. Blaney went from fifth to first by lap 47 and never looked back as he won the first stage. In the stage break caution, Blaney lost the lead on pit road to Christopher Bell and restarted the stage in third. After pitting during another caution on lap 99, Blaney had to head back to pit road to fix a loose wheel and restart from the back. The Penske driver spent the rest of the second stage recovering from this pit road mistake and finished the second stage in 12th. In the final stage, Blaney's crew had another pit road mistake that sent him to the back of the pack again. Blaney spent most of the stage recovering to the front and eventually returned to the top five to compete for the lead with Bell. On the final pit stop, Blaney opted to take a two-tire pit stop instead of four to maintain track position for the final restart. This call paid off for Blaney as he made it to the lead and held off a hard-charging Bell to win at Phoenix. Blaney's victory was his second in a row at Phoenix, and he is now second in the Cup Series regular season standings after four races.--Sean Engel - RotoBaller
Source: NASCAR.com