Blaney Gives the Captain a Double

Ryan Blaney made it a double weekend for Roger Penske

(CONCORD, NC – MAY 29, 2023 – RIS) On a Memorial Day for the record books, Ryan Blaney gave Roger Penske and Team Penske the team’s second major win by being the dominant car in the 400-lap NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600. Blaney led 141 laps over second-place William Byron’s 92 laps. Christopher Bell led the third most laps, at 48 circuits of the mile and a half quad-oval, followed by Tyler Reddick’s 28 laps in front. The race was halted once in the second stage when rain caused a red flag.

Thirteen different cars led over the race distance and counting the rain period as a single, the race was slowed by 16 caution periods. William Byron won the first and third stages, while Chris Buescher took the second and of course, Blaney the fourth and final stage.

Jimmie Johnson brought out the first incident caution for his spin on lap 74, William Byron’s crew winning the race on pit road to send the No. 24 Chevy out first. Jimmie’s woes continued as he spun again, this time on lap 163 to create another caution. Johnson’s race ended with the No. 84 car in the garage, credited with only 115 laps.

Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott got together with Hamlin spinning and nosing hard into the outside wall on lap 185, with Hamlin expressing his displeasure: “I got right-rear hooked in the middle of the straightaway.

“It’s a tantrum and he shouldn’t be racing next week. Right rear hooks are absolutely unacceptable. I don’t care. It is the same thing that Bubba Wallace did with Kyle Larson. Exact same. He shouldn’t be racing. It’s a tantrum.” Hamlin concluded that: “he shouldn’t be racing. He shouldn’t be racing.”

Rain started falling on the track (again) on lap 155 and the yellow flag flew for two laps before the red flag halted the race.

A photographer was struck in the back by Tyler Reddick during the red flag period in the first half of the race. During the red flag, the ‘shooter’ was talking with one of the Security personnel when he felt a sharp blow to his back. The blow apparently caused no injury, as medical attention was refused and no treatment was needed. The conversation continued with the guard after everyone around laughed about Reddick “trying to kill a photographer.” Full disclosure: we were standing near a porta-potty and when Reddick opened the door to leave, it smacked me in the backside.

The final stage featured five separate cautions, the first for Michael McDowell’s wheel. The second was for an incident on the front stretch involving Kevin Harvick and Tyler Reddick. The third caution followed immediately for the fourth turn incident with Allmendinger and Harrison Burton, then Austin Cindric’s solo on the back stretch and the five car incident in the second turn caused the final caution of the race. The cars involved were Kyle Larson, Ty Gibbs, Christopher Bell, Joey Logano and Aric Almirola.

Blaney took the lead after the final caution, building a lead of 0.663 second by the time of the checkered flag.

“It’s just so cool. What a weekend with Newgarden and Roger winning at Indy and us winning the 600,” said Blaney. “I mean that’s just so cool. That kind of snaps our winless streak right there and that’s even better. I’m just really thankful to everybody who stuck around with us. It’s huge to have BodyArmor on the car. It’s such a cool car and looking forward to celebrate with these guys and I’m just really proud of the car and the effort that we had and was able to hang on.”

Unofficial Results: Coca-Cola 600 - Monday, May 29, 2023 - Charlotte Motor Speedway
Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, St3, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 8, Ryan Blaney, No. 12 BodyArmor Cherry Lime Ford, 400, 3, 5, 1, 7, 163, 6, 64, Running
2) 1, William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Patriotic Chevrolet, 400, 1, 8, 4, 9, 91, 1, 55, Running
3) 18, Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, 400, 5, , 3, , , , 48, Running
4) 7, Bubba Wallace, No. 23 Dr Peper Strawberries & Cream Toyota, 400, , 10, , , , , 34, Running
5) 15, Tyler Reddick, No. 45 Jordan Brand Toyota, 400, 4, , 2, 1, 28, , 48, Running
6) 5, Kyle Busch, No. 8 Alsco Chevrolet, 400, 7, , 7, 1, 1, , 39, Running
7) 10, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Kroger/Coca-Cola Chevrolet, 400, 10, , 9, 1, 4, , 33, Running
8) 11, Chris Buescher, No. 17 Fastenal Ford, 400, , 1, , 1, 12, 1, 39, Running
9) 33, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet, 400, , , , , , , 28, Running
10) 29, Zane Smith(i), No. 38 Boot Barn Ford, 400, , , , 1, 3, , 27, Running
11) 2, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford, 400, , 2, 8, 3, 19, , 38, Running
12) 31, Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Patriotic Chevrolet, 400, , , 10, , , , 26, Running
13) 22, Ryan Preece, No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford, 400, , , , , , , 24, Running
14) 27, AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Action Industries Chevrolet, 400, , , , , , , 23, Running
15) 16, Justin Haley, No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, 400, , , , , , , 22, Running
16) 36, JJ Yeley(i), No. 15 Patriot Mobile Ford, 400, , , , , , , 21, Running
17) 25, Corey LaJoie, No. 7 AeroVanti Chevrolet, 400, , , , , , , 20, Running
18) 13, Harrison Burton, No. 21 DEX Imaging Ford, 400, , , , , , , 19, Running
19) 3, Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Castrol Edge Ford, 400, 8, 3, , , , , 29, Running
20) 20, Chase Briscoe, No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford, 400, , , , , , , 17, Running
21) 17, Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 400, , 4, , , , , 23, Running
22) 14, Ross Chastain, No. 1 AdventHealth Chevrolet, 400, , 9, , , , , 17, Running
23) 24, Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Jockey Chevrolet, 400, , , , , , , 14, Running
24) 9, Christopher Bell, No. 20 Interstate Batteries Toyota, 400, 2, 6, , 3, 48, , 27, Running
25) 23, Aric Almirola, No. 10 Smithfield Ford, 400, , , , , , , 12, Running
26) 19, Ty Gibbs #, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota, 398, , 7, 5, , , , 21, Running
27) 32, Ty Dillon, No. 77 Ferris Commercial Mowers Chevrolet, 397, , , , , , , 10, Running
28) 30, Michael McDowell, No. 34 Chicago Pneumatic Compressors Ford, 396, , , , 1, 4, , 9, Running
29) 34, BJ McLeod, No. 78 B'laster Chevrolet, 392, , , , , , , 8, Running
30) 12, Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Patriotic Chevrolet, 377, 9, , 6, 1, 1, , 14, Accident
31) 21, Austin Cindric, No. 2 Menards/Duracell Ford, 369, , , , , , , 6, Accident
32) 26, Erik Jones, No. 43 U.S. AIR FORCE Chevrolet, 341, , , , , , , 5, Running
33) 35, Todd Gilliland, No. 51 Ruedebusch Development & Construction Ford, 265, , , , , , , 4, Accident
34) 6, Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Patriotic Chevrolet, 185, , , , 1, 6, , 3, Accident
35) 4, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota, 185, 6, , , 2, 20, , 7, Accident
36) 28, Noah Gragson #, No. 42 Black Rifle Coffee Company Chevrolet, 117, , , , , , , 1, Engine
37) 37, * Jimmie Johnson, No. 84 Club Wyndham Chevrolet, 115, , , , , , , 1, Accident
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Race Length: 400 Laps, 600. Miles
Time of Race: 4 Hrs, 58 Mins, 50 Secs.
Average Speed: 120.468 MPH
Margin of Victory: .663 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 24, 20, 12, 45, 19, 11, 8, 6, 5, 47
Stage 2 Top 10: 17, 4, 6, 22, 12, 20, 54, 24, 1, 23
Stage 3 Top 10: 12, 45, 19, 24, 54, 5, 8, 4, 47, 48

Comments: Ryan Blaney has won the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, his 8th career victory in the NASCAR Cup Series. 

Cautions: 16 for 83 laps;
Laps: 37-41 (Competition Caution [78]);
76-79 (Incident Turn 2 No. 84 [78]);
102-107 (Stage 1 Conclusion [14]);
157-163 (Precipitation [2]);
165-169 (Incident Backstretch No. 84 [23]);
177-181 (Incident Backstretch Nos. 6, 8 & 99 [7]);
187-191 (Incident Frontstretch Nos. 11 & 9 [14]);
201-207 (Stage 2 Conclusion/Incident Frontstretch No. 78 [38]);
233-236 (Spin Frontstretch No. 20 [99]);
276-280 (Incident Backstretch Nos. 6 & 51 [99]);
302-307 (Stage 3 Conclusion [10]);
345-349 (Debris Turn 2 [41]);
359-362 (Incident Frontstretch Nos. 4 & 45 [1]);
364-369 (Incident Turn 4 Nos. 16 & 21 [99]);
371-374 (Incident Backstretch No. 2 [6]);
376-380 (Incident Turn 2 Nos. 5, 54, 20, 22, & 10 [6]).

Lead Changes: 31 among 13 drivers;
W. Byron 1-13;
D. Hamlin 14-32;
C. Bell 33-36;
D. Hamlin 37;
W. Byron 38-41;
R. Blaney 42-62;
C. Bell 63-75;
W. Byron 76-103;
M. McDowell 104-107;
W. Byron 108-116;
C. Bell 117-147;
C. Elliott 148-153;
T. Reddick 154-181;
R. Blaney 182-191;
C. Buescher 192-203;
K. Harvick 204;
R. Stenhouse Jr. 205-208;
K. Harvick 209-225;
R. Blaney 226-232;
K. Harvick 233;
W. Byron 234-236;
R. Blaney 237-276;
K. Larson 277;
W. Byron 278-281;
R. Blaney 282-303;
W. Byron 304-307;
R. Blaney 308-344;
K. Busch 345;
W. Byron 346-359;
Z. Smith(i) 360-362;
W. Byron 363-374;
R. Blaney 375-400.

John Davison

Long-time RIS staffer, beginning in the mid-80s. Charlotte, NC area local contact.

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Volume 2023, Issue 5, Posted 11:14 PM, 05.29.2023