Ryan Blaney Falls Short Of The 2024 Cup Series Title At Phoenix
3 weeks agoTeam Penske's Ryan Blaney finished second during Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway, falling short of the race win and the Cup Series title. Beginning the race from the 17th position in the first stage, Blaney quickly ascended through the field as his car was great on longer green flag runs. The No. 12 Ford driver reached sixth by the end of the first stage. In the second stage, Blaney took advantage of a great pit stop to come out third and eventually took over the lead after green flag pit stops. Blaney would stay ahead of Bell even after the two battled side by side for the stage victory. In the final stage, Blaney continued to run inside the Top 5 even after the green flag pit stops. He decided to pit again after a lap 250 caution, where Zane Smith wrecked. This would have Blaney restart sixth on what was the race's final restart and steadily progressed to the front once again, passing Kyle Larson and William Byron before chasing down his teammate, Joey Logano, who was leading. Although Blaney got as close as two-tenths of a second behind Logano, he could not pass the No. 22 car and closed out the year as the championship runner-up.
Source: NASCAR.com
Source: NASCAR.com