Ryan Blaney Tag

By David Morgan, Associate Editor BRISTOL, Tenn. – Just Kyle Larson doing Kyle Larson things. It was just utter dominance for the driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway as he led an astounding 462 of 500 laps en route to his fifth win of the 2024 season and second overall on the high-banked half-mile. Larson rolled off from second-place to start the night behind his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman, but on lap 33, he vaulted to the lead and the rest isRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor BRISTOL, Tenn. – Day one of NASCAR Cup Series action at Bristol Motor Speedway is complete, with drivers and teams getting a full practice session to dial in their cars before setting the field for Saturday night’s Bass Pro Night Race. Alex Bowman will lead the field to green after posting the fast time of 15.142 seconds (126.720 mph) around the half-mile bullring to snag his first pole of the season at the most opportune time in the first elimination race of the Playoffs. “I thoughtRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor BRISTOL, Tenn. – Elimination weekend is upon us. The NASCAR Cup Series rolls into Bristol Motor Speedway for a Saturday night under the lights in the Bass Pro Shops Night Race which will see the current 16-driver Playoff field cut to 12 when the checkered flag falls on the night. Racing at Bristol is always intense, but when the lights go down for the night race, the intensity gets cranked to 11. The aggressiveness that the drivers will show on the high-banked bullring that is calledRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor HAMPTON, Ga. – The first ticket to the second round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs has been punched. Joey Logano, with a helping hand from his Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney in the closing laps of regulation, advanced to the front of the field, set to square off against the Trackhouse Racing duo of Daniel Suarez and Ross Chastain in a battle to the finish. However, the caution flag would fly with two laps remaining, pushing the race into overtime, with Logano able to keepRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor HAMPTON, Ga. – Ryan Blaney’s defense of his 2023 NASCAR Cup Series title starts in earnest this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway, with hopes of returning to the championship podium 10 weeks from now at Phoenix. Having made the run through the postseason to capture his first Cup championship a year ago, Blaney and his No. 12 Team Penske group have a blueprint of what it takes to get it done, but explained they won’t be able to use a carbon copy for the 2024 Playoffs,Read More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor HAMPTON, Ga. – Michael McDowell continued his superspeedway qualifying dominance on Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, capturing his fifth pole of the season with a lap of 30.926 seconds, 179.267 to lead the field to green in Sunday’s Quaker State 400. “I don’t think you ever go into it like, ‘Oh, we’ve got this.’ I knew that we would have a shot at it, but I knew when Blaney went faster than us that first round, even though it was only by a few hundredths, you knowRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor HAMPTON, Ga. – NASCAR Cup Series Playoff time is here again and the 2024 edition of the postseason is in for a doozy of a start. With the 16-driver field set in stone a week ago after a barn burner of a finish at Darlington in the Southern 500, the points standings have been reset as the series rolls right into a wild card race to kick off the 10-race march to the championship courtesy of Sunday’s Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Atlanta’s agingRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DARLINGTON, S.C. – Offering up a fist pump and big smile, Bubba Wallace claimed perhaps the most consequential pole position of his young career – turning in the fastest lap in the final round of NASCAR Cup Series qualifying for Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway (6 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Wallace’s lap of 167.143 mph in the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota Saturday afternoon puts him out front to start the 500-miler at the historic 1.366-mile Darlington track. And it’sRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – In any other year, a return to Daytona International Speedway in the late summer would mark the end of the regular season and cement the field for the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. Not so much in 2024, as a quirk that comes with the Olympic break that was undertaken a few weeks back making Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 the penultimate race of the regular season, setting things up for a final showdown at Darlington over Labor Day weekend. But thatRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor SPEEDWAY, Ind. – Ryan Blaney didn’t know whether to be mad or frustrated with the way Sunday’s Brickyard 400 ended for he and the No. 12 Team Penske team. Blaney looked to be in the catbird seat as the laps were winding down on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval, chasing down Brad Keselowski with Kyle Larson in his rear-view. Keselowski was iffy on even being able to make it to the end, while Blaney had hopefully saved enough to see him through to the finish andRead More