Ryan Blaney rallies for Phoenix victory
Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images
AVONDALE, Ariz.—Ryan Blaney completed a hard-earned Team Penske sweep at the famed Phoenix Raceway in Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 500 – recovering from multiple early race setbacks to claim his first NASAR Cup Series trophy of the 2026 season and answer his Penske team’s Saturday IndyCar win at the track with a spectacular and popular stock car victory a day later.
A pair of pit stop issues – including a penalty for pitting outside his box – put Blaney at the rear of the field twice early in the race but the 2023 series champion was not to be denied – rallying back in his No. 12 Team Penske Ford and taking the lead for good with 10 laps remaining.
Blaney’s team took tire tires on a final stop on a caution with 12 laps remaining and made his way forward after restarting on the second row.
He got around then race leader Ty Gibbs with 10 to go and then held off Gibbs’ Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell who led the most laps – 176 of 312 – but faced a huge task moving up from an eighth-place position on the final restart as the first car to take four tires. With the fresh Goodyear rubber, Bell at least kept Blaney honest, cutting into the lead with each lap, but ultimately coming .399-second short.
“Just perseverance,” Blaney conceded of his afternoon. “I mean, everybody on the 12-group persevered all day. We had a couple mistakes that we learned from, got better, had to come from the back a couple times.
“Obviously the 20 [Bell] was the best car. But [Blaney’s crew chief] Jonathan [Hassler] made a great call to take two [on last stop]. We were able to get the lead. Hold them off. I don’t know how many more laps I could have held them off.
“Really proud of everybody at Team Penske. We swept the weekend with [Josef] Newgarden winning yesterday, us winning today. Can’t wait to see [team owner] Roger [Penske]. … Can’t say enough about the 12 guys for keeping their head down and doing what they do and Jonathan again for making a good call at the end.”
Bright sun and temperatures near 90-degrees welcomed a huge crowd for the Sunday’s second half of the well-received racing doubleheader weekend with both IndyCar and NASCAR marquee events. Many of the open-wheel racers stayed at track and found spots atop team pit stands to watch the stock cars compete.
And the Penske team certainly made the most of the unique doubleheader opportunity.
It marks the 32-year-old Blaney’s 18th career victory and second at Phoenix and vaults him to second place in the championship standings – now 60 points behind 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick, who saw his historic three-race winning streak to start the season end with an eighth-place showing Sunday.
Reddick ran among the top-10 throughout the race but never truly challenged for the victory.
“We kind of just hovered around fifth all day,” conceded Reddick, whose 23XI Racing team co-owner Michael Jordan was again trackside in support of the organization’s record-setting 2026 season start.
“Looking at the board over here, scored the fourth most amount of points on the day,” he added. “That’s kind of what we need to keep doing all year to keep the lead that we have and try and hang on to it. Solid day. If we’re not going to win, these are the kind of days we need to have. Glad to get out of here with some points.”
Bell, the defending race winner, whose own three-race winning streak last season included this Phoenix race, was understandably disappointed to finish runner-up after leading the most laps. The upside, however, is that his No. 20 JGR team dramatically moved up from 18th in the championship standings before the race to now sixth place heading to Las Vegas next week. He and Blaney each won a stage Sunday.
“Ultimately, if we had more green flag laps, I think we could have made a run at him,” Bell said. “I don’t know. You win some, you lose some. This one stings, but on the positive side I’m really proud of our entire team. It’s something to build on. It was a day that we needed. We got a lot of stage points, finished second – just bummed whenever they get away like that.”
Beyond Blaney and Bell, reigning series champion, Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson finished third followed by Bell’s JGR teammates Gibbs – who now has back-to-back fourth-place finishes on the season – and Denny Hamlin.
Reddick’s teammate Bubba Wallace was sixth, followed by Hendrick’s William Byron, Reddick, Spire Motorsports Michael McDowell and Legacy Motor Club’s Erik Jones. Popular driver Shane Van Gisbergen – the series road racing ace – rallied to an 11th-place showing even after being involved in multiple incidents on the day.
The race’s 12 cautions tied the track record for yellow flags. There were eight leaders and 23 lead changes.
Anthony Alfredo, who was subbing for Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman, finished 33rd in the No. 48 Chevrolet, collected in a multi-car crash with just less than 100 laps remaining.
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for next Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube (4 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Wood Brothers Racing’s Josh Berry is the defending race winner.
NASCAR Cup Series Race Number 4
Race Results for the Straight Talk Wireless 500 - Sunday, March 8, 2026
Phoenix Raceway - Avondale, AZ - 1. - Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 312 Laps - 312. Miles
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Sunday, 3/8/2026 @ 07:21 PM Eastern
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Pts Pos Status Tms Laps Pos
1 5 12 Ryan Blaney Dent Wizard Ford 312 1 65 Running 2 28
2 12 20 Christopher Bell Reser's Fine Foods Toyota 312 2 1 54 Running 8 176
3 2 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 312 9 36 Running
4 14 54 Ty Gibbs AMPM Toyota 312 8 36 Running 1 12
5 11 11 Denny Hamlin Bob's Discount Furniture Toyota 312 5 2 47 Running 1 5
6 28 23 Bubba Wallace Robinhood Toyota 312 5 37 Running
7 9 24 William Byron Raptor Chevrolet 312 9 32 Running 1 1
8 8 45 Tyler Reddick Jordan Brand Toyota 312 4 8 39 Running
9 16 71 Michael McDowell Delaware Life Chevrolet 312 28 Running
10 32 43 Erik Jones Dollar Tree Toyota 312 27 Running
11 18 97 Shane Van Gisbergen Safety Culture Chevrolet 312 26 Running
12 30 34 Todd Gilliland Long John Silver's Ford 312 10 26 Running
13 13 60 Ryan Preece Body Guard Ford 312 24 Running 1 4
14 17 17 Chris Buescher Fry's/Artesano/Kraft Ford 312 4 30 Running
15 37 6 Brad Keselowski Consumer Cellular Ford 312 22 Running
16 25 3 Austin Dillon Bass Pro Shops/Winchester Chevrolet 312 21 Running
17 29 8 Kyle Busch zone Jalapeno Lime Chevrolet 312 20 Running
18 22 35 Riley Herbst Monster Energy Toyota 312 19 Running
19 23 16 AJ Allmendinger Campers Inn RV Chevrolet 312 18 Running
20 7 77 Carson Hocevar MINER DOCKS DOORS AND MORE Chevrolet 312 7 21 Running
21 27 33 * Austin Hill(i) United Rentals Chevrolet 312 0 Running
22 21 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Pylon Aviation Chevrolet 312 15 Running
23 26 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 312 14 Running
24 34 51 Cody Ware Super.com Chevrolet 312 13 Running
25 15 42 John Hunter Nemechek Mobil 1 Toyota 312 12 Running
26 33 10 Ty Dillon Grizzly Nicotine Pouches Chevrolet 311 11 Running
27 24 38 Zane Smith Aaron's Rent To Own Ford 294 10 Accident
28 6 1 Ross Chastain Kubota Chevrolet 286 10 10 Running
29 19 88 Connor Zilisch # Wendy's Chevrolet 281 8 Suspension
30 4 7 Daniel Suarez Freeway Insurance Chevrolet 254 7 11 Accident
31 1 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 253 3 3 23 Accident 9 73
32 10 21 Josh Berry eero Ford 253 5 Accident 1 13
33 31 48 Anthony Alfredo(i) Ally Best Friends Chevrolet 217 0 Accident
34 3 2 Austin Cindric Menards/Quaker State Ford 216 6 6 13 Accident
35 36 41 Cole Custer HaasTooling.com Chevrolet 159 2 Radiator
36 35 4 Noah Gragson Straight Talk Wireless Ford 155 1 Accident
37 20 19 Chase Briscoe Bass Pro Shops Toyota 131 1 Accident
Fastest Lap Bonus: #22, lap 2 / 27.402
Race Comments: Ryan Blaney has won the Straight Talk Wireless 500 at Phoenix Raceway, his 18th victory in the NASCAR Cup Series. Prior to the start of the race, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty: #6 (Backup Car), #77 (Unapproved Adjustment), and #38 (Unapproved Adjustment during Practice/Prequalifying adjustments, car chief ejected, vehicle will start from the rear and perform a drive through penalty after taking the green flag.).
Failed to Qualify: None.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 32 Mins, 12 Secs. Average Speed: Margin of Victory:
Caution Flags: 12 for 86 laps; Laps: 62-70 (Stage 1 Conclusion [35]); 95-101 (#97 Incident Turn 4 [6]); 104-108 (#7, 9, 21 Incident Turn 2 [38]); 133-138 (#19 Incident Turn 4 [43]); 159-167 (Debris Turn 2 [97]); 187-196 (Stage 2 Conclusion [8]); 211-216 (#47, 60, 88 Incident Frontstretch [None]); 218-225 (#1, 2, 22, 23, 48 Incident Frontstretch [None]); 247-252 (#3, 97 Incident Turn 4 [1]); 255-263 (#3, 7, 9, 16, 21, 22, 97 Incident Turn 1 [8]); 289-293 (#3 Stopped Turn 2 [33]);
295-300 (#10, 38, 42, 47 Incident Backstretch [1]).
Lead Changes: 23 among 8 drivers; J. Logano 1-46; R. Blaney 47-64; J. Logano 65; C. Bell 66-96; J. Logano 97; C. Bell 98-108; J. Logano 109-124; C. Bell 125-133; J. Logano 134-138; C. Bell 139-162; J. Logano 163; R. Preece 164-167; D. Hamlin 168-172; C. Bell 173-190; J. Logano 191; C. Bell 192-211; J. Logano 212;
J. Berry 213-225; C. Bell 226-247; J. Logano 248; C. Bell 249-289; W. Byron 290; T. Gibbs 291-302; R. Blaney 303-312. 88.219 MPH .399 Seconds
Stage 1 Top 10: 12, 20, 22, 45, 11, 2, 7, 54, 24, 1
Stage 2 Top 10: 20, 11, 22, 17, 23, 2, 77, 45, 5, 34
NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications @ P.O. Box 2875, Daytona Beach, FL 32120-2875
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race: March 15, 2026 - Las Vegas Motor Speedway
CURRENT NASCAR CUP SERIES STANDINGS
UNOFFICIAL UNOFFICIAL
1. Tyler Reddick 45 4 0 225 0 0 3 0
2. Ryan Blaney 12 4 -2 165 -60 60 1 1
3. Bubba Wallace 23 4 1 153 -72 12 0 2
4. Chase Elliott 9 4 1 128 -97 25 0 0
5. Shane Van Gisbergen 97 4 0 116 -109 12 0 0
6. Christopher Bell 20 4 -18 113 -112 3 0 1
7. Joey Logano 22 4 1 113 -112 0 0 0
8. Michael McDowell 71 4 -1 111 -114 2 0 0
9. Chris Buescher 17 4 -2 111 -114 0 0 0
10. Kyle Larson 5 4 -5 109 -116 2 0 0
11. William Byron 24 4 -2 108 -117 1 0 0
12. Denny Hamlin 11 4 -11 107 -118 1 0 0
13. AJ Allmendinger 16 4 5 104 -121 3 0 0
14. Carson Hocevar 77 4 4 103 -122 1 0 0
15. Ty Gibbs 54 4 -2 101 -124 2 0 1
16. Brad Keselowski 6 4 4 100 -125 1 0 0
17. Daniel Suarez 7 4 10 98 -127 2 0 0
18. Ryan Preece 60 4 2 92 -133 6 0 0
19. Zane Smith 38 4 5 85 -140 7 0 1
20. Kyle Busch 8 4 -2 81 -144 4 0 0
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