Sunday night’s race was the first for the Cup series at the track, which had hosted Xfinity, Truck, ARCA and IndyCar rounds previously.
In a race where teams were wary of tyre wear – and several paid the price by hitting the wall – Blaney and his #12 Penske Ford team mastered the strategy.
On the final caution of the race, Blaney was first out of the pits having taken two new right-side tyres. The race, which had eight cautions in total, ended with an 84-lap green-flag run to the finish and Blaney was never seriously challenged for the lead.
William Byron and Chase Elliott, who both took four new tyres on the final stop, tried to run Blaney down but to no avail. Blaney edged Byron by 0.716 seconds to secure his first win of the year.
Blaney led four times for a race-high 201 laps on his way to the 11th win of his career and the second triumph for Penske in the last three races. It was Blaney’s team-mate, Austin Cindric, who won at Gateway two weeks ago when Blaney ran out of fuel on the final lap while leading.
“What a cool way to win here. This place means a lot to me and means a lot to my mom,” said Blaney, whose mother, Lisa, grew up in Chariton, Iowa. “We had a lot of people here tonight cheering us on, so they willed us to that one.
Race winner Ryan Blaney, Team Penske, Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang
Photo by: Danny Hansen / NKP / Motorsport Images
“Our car was really fast all night and we got a little bit better through the night and two tyres [on the final pitstop] was a good call. I didn’t know how well I was going to hold on. I started to struggle a little bit at the end but had enough to hang on.”
With Elliott third, Christopher Bell charged from the rear of the field in a back-up car to take fourth place, as Ricky Stenhouse Jr rounded out the top five.
Kyle Larson, who went from 33rd to first in Stage 2 earlier in the race, looked a strong contender to win until Daniel Suarez clipped his left-rear corner on lap 220, which sent him up the track and into the side of Denny Hamlin.
Larson ended up 34th at the finish having suffered heavy car damage, while Hamlin could only climb to 24th.
