Ryan Blaney completes the Desert Double sweep for Team Penske at Phoenix
AVONDALE, Ariz. — Ryan Blaney completes his major NASCAR Cup Series comeback to win the Straight Talk Wireless 500 at Phoenix Raceway.
This is his 18th Cup Series win and delivers Ford their first of the season.
Team Penske looked dominant early in the race. Joey Logano led the majority of the stage from pole but Ryan Blaney’s long-run speed proved to be the best.
He passed his teammate to win the first stage but trouble lurked ahead.
Blaney exited pit road in third but quickly had to return to tighten a loose wheel, sending the No. 12 to the rear.
He fought back to 10th before another caution disrupted his recovery.
On the next round of stops, he suffered another loose wheel. He smartly used Logano’s box as his personal Shell station to tighten his second loose wheel of the day.
Two loose wheels, two trips to the back, and a race full of chaos still could not hinder the speed in the No. 12.
Blaney sliced through the field once more but sat too far back to challenge for the win.
A caution with 25 laps to go changed everything. Crew chief Jonathan Hassler rolled the dice with a two-tire call and came up big.
He restarted third, blasted past Ty Gibbs and Kyle Larson, and regained the lead. Over the final six laps held of a charging Christopher Bell to take victory.
In total, Blaney passed 49 cars in the race to deliver Team Penske the weekend sweep in one of his most eventful races of his career so far.
On the front stretch he summarized his day.
“…just perseverance. 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.” Blaney said.
He proceeded to credit Christopher Bell and their winning gamble on two tires.
“Obviously the 20 was the best car. Jonathan made a great call to take two. We were able to get the lead. Hold them off. I don’t know how many more laps I could have held them off. We were able to do that. Really proud of everybody at Team Penske.”
Notable Finishes
Christopher Bell led a race high 176 laps and won the second stage in his second-placed run.
Kyle Larson started the race on the front row but fought loose car conditions the whole race until he found the front due to the fields high attrition. Cliff Daniels made the call for two tires on the final stop as well resulting in third for the team.
Ty Gibbs had a strong race. He led laps and had a chance to win on the final restart but settled back in fourth.
Denny Hamlin put on four tires on the final pit stop and came across the line fifth.
Bubba Wallace suffered damage in an earlier wreck but keeps his car together to finish 6th.
His teammate, Tyler Reddick, fails to find four in a row but comes home in the top ten, eighth.
Both William Byron and Michael McDowell recovered from flat right-front tires to top ten finishes.
Erik Jones captured his first top ten since the Southern 500 a season ago.
Race Results
Below is an archive of the live updates on the Straight Talk Wireless 500 at Phoenix Raceway
FINAL STAGE RECAP
FINAL LAP: Blaney takes the white and proceeds to win the Straight Talk Wireless 500 at Phoenix Raceway. Bell came close but Blaney delivers Roger Penske the Desert Double sweep.
5 TO GO: Ryan Blaney continues to lead while Bell is only making slight inroads on the leader.
7 TO GO: Christopher Bell makes quick work of Larson and Gibbs. Now has six laps and a second to make up on Blaney.
9 TO GO: What a move from Ryan Blaney! He takes the lead a corner ago with an excellent slide job maneuver.
10 TO GO: Here comes Bell! He is fourth on fresh tires while Blaney and Gibbs continue to battle.
12 TO GO: Gibbs chose the outside while Larson on the inside. Larson gets super loose into turn two while Blaney and Gibbs take off.
14 TO GO: Zane Smith took his car behind the wall while Ty Dillon’s crew repaired their damage. They sit one lap down.
The top ten before the restart: Gibbs, Larson, Blaney, Byron, McDowell, Reddick, Hamlin, Bell, Wallace, and Carson Hocevar.
16 TO GO: Kyle Larson had a tremendous restart and nearly took the lead away from Gibbs but narrowly missed out on the lead at the time of caution.
The fresh tires are a little closer. Denny Hamlin had a great restart himself and sits seventh while Christopher Bell stays in eighth but in contention.
19 TO GO: CAUTION! Ricky Stenhouse Jr gets loose while five-wide out of turn two and into Zane Smith. He gets turned near the back of the pack in front of Ty Dillon
20 TO GO: Ty Gibbs leads with Blaney, Larson, Reddick, Byron, McDowell, Hocevar, Bell, van Gisbergen, and Kyle Busch.
Bell is the lead car on four tires and everyone else in the top ten only took two. Denny Hamlin restarts 11th with four fresh tires as well.
Two flat tires and two free passes cannot deny Kyle Busch from having a shot at the end.
23 TO GO: Bell leads the field to pit road. Ty Gibbs wins the race of pit road by taking two tires. Ryan Blaney is second after taking two as well.
Connor Zilisch takes his car to the garage.
25 TO GO: CAUTION! Now its Hill’s Richard Childress Racing teammate Austin Dillon who has a right-rear pop.
This will make the end very intersting.
27 TO GO: Austin Hill had a right-front tire fall flat and makes it down pit road to continue the green flag run.
28 TO GO: After a harsh battle for fourth, Kyle Larson has successfully defended the position. He now has a second gap to Reddick.
31 TO GO: Connor Zilisch suffers a front-right tire failure and his crew repairs the damage. He runs 5 laps down now.
Ryan Blaney passes Ty Gibbs for second and is running slightly faster than Bell.
35 TO GO: Denny Hamlin is still recovering from his tough restart. He passes Bubba Wallace for sixth.
38 TO GO: Ryan Blaney clears Kyle Larson for third. The chase for Bell now has 2.5 seconds and Ty Gibbs between them.
40 TO GO: Bell now leads Gibbs by 1.3 seconds. He is about half a second faster than Blaney.
43 TO GO: Tyler Reddick and Ryan Blaney battle Kyle Larson three-wide for third.
48 TO GO: Kyle Larson used his championship winning move on the outside to take third place! Bell takes off in the lead with Gibbs behind.
Hamlin fell back to seventh from the restart.
50 TO GO: Here we go again with Christopher Bell and Ty Gibbs. Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin make up the second row on the restart.
LAP 258: Three Team Penske prepared cars are now out. Ryan Blaney remains as the sole Penske driver holding the banner in third place.
Meanwhile, Ross Chastain comes back out on the track 26 laps down to make up some spots.
Kyle Busch earns the free pass.
LAP 254: CAUTION! Joey Logano tries to clear AJ Allmendinger in the dogleg and chaos ensues.
Joey Logano, Daniel Suarez, and Josh Berry all crash out of the event while Chase Elliott sustains minimal right-front fender damage and continues.
LAP 253: Here comes Kyle Larson! He jumps to fifth on the restart as Bell rockets off.
LAP 252: Bell leads Gibbs to the restart zone as Chris Buescher gives up fourth after his pit road speeding penalty.
LAP 249: Bell wins the race off pit road but will be joined by teammate Ty Gibbs on the front row for the restart.
Blaney has lost a net 24 positions on pit road today. He only lost one spot this time around and will restart third.
LAP 248: Ryan Blaney was less than three feet away from gaining the lead before the caution flew. They lead the field back down pit road to the relief of Josh Berry and Chase Elliott.
LAP 246: CAUTION! Its Déjà vu!
Kyle Busch has right-front flat again while the caution officially flies for Shane van Gisbergen who spun out of turn four which prevented Busch from losing more than a lap.
LAP 243: The battle up front has stabilized to around a one car-length gap. Joey Logano and Tyler Reddick are just as close for the seventh spot.
LAP 239: Elliott is now 14 seconds behind the leaders. That’s half the track as his no tire gamble is not going well.
LAP 238: Bell and Blaney continue nose to tail for the lead. It appears Blaney is faster in this phase of the race but Bell is aero-blocking well.
LAP 234: Bubba Wallace maintains his fifth place position after sustaining damage during the previous caution.
LAP 231: Here comes Blaney! He tightens the lead to a few car lengths.
Reddick’s bid for four straight victories is in jeopardy. He radioed a long brake pedal to his crew.
LAP 226: Christopher Bell retakes the lead as Ryan Blaney clears for second! What and incredible recovery drive so far from him.
Chase Elliott entered turn two too high and falls back to 22nd on old tires.
LAP 225: Ross Chastain and Anthony Alfredo’s crews were unable to repair the amount of damage on their cars. They go behind the wall to join Cindric out of the race.
LAP 221: Josh Berry still leads after the eighth caution of the day. Christopher Bell will restart on the front row after clearing Chase Elliott for second at the time of caution.
Kyle Busch receives the free pass. He is back on the lead lap after his big hit in stage one.
LAP 216: CAUTION on the restart! Joey Logano gives Ross Chastain a shove gone wrong and turns him into Alfredo, Wallace, and Cindric.
Big hits and damage for Ross Chastain, Anthony Alfredo, and Austin Cindric.
Austin Cindric radioed he’s okay but the damage is terminal. He joins Briscoe, Gragson, and Custer in the garage.
LAP 215: Bell is joined by Gibbs, Buescher, Chastain, and Anthony Alfredo who all took two tires. NASCAR gave the teams eight sets of tires for the race. Both Berry and Elliott have only one more set while others have two remaining.
Connor Zilisch will start in the rear after his speeding penalty.
LAP 213: 100 laps remaining now. Josh Berry leads Chase Elliott in second after both stayed out on track during the caution period.
LAP 212: Three drivers stayed out on track while everyone else pits. Bell’s crew calls for “Camry” which meant two tires and wins the race off pit road.
LAP 210: CAUTION! Connor Zilisch gets sideways in the dogleg and into Ryan Preece, who spins without hitting anything.
This green flag run lasted only ten laps but it seems the field can’t get past any runs longer than 30 laps.
LAP 209: Christopher Bell has stretched his lead by over two seconds to Bubba Wallace. Wallace holds off Logano for second while Blaney makes the pass for fourth on teammate Cindric.
LAP 206: Blaney is a bullet. He passed both Chris Buescher and Tyler Reddick to fifth and had the fastest lap on track as well.
LAP 203: Ryan Blaney continues his second climb back to the front. He sits seventh after the restart had shaken out. Carson Hocevar is the highest Chevrolet in the running in tenth.
LAP 200: Bubba Wallace fully cleared Logano as battles commence throughout the top ten.
LAP 197: Bell shoots out to the lead while Bubba Wallace battles side by side with Logano for second.
LAP 194: It’s Bell and Logano on the front row for the restart for another bout for the lead.
Looking to get back to the front and contend with Bell, Ryan Blaney restarts the final stage in 11th.
Kyle Larson and Todd Gilliland had slow stops which relegated them outside the top ten. They restart 14th and 16th.
LAP 191: Christopher Bell leads the field down pit road and retains his lead coming off pit road. Denny Hamlin had a slow stop but stays inside the top ten.
Bubba Wallace left pit road in third. He’s steadily improved throughout the first two stages and will restart in his highest position yet.
This is Bell’s first stage win of the season. In the previous two spring Phoenix races, Bell has won the second stage then went to victory lane.
Can he three-peat today? So far he looks like the driver to beat yet again.
STAGE TWO WINNER: Christopher Bell
LAP 186: Christopher Bell wins stage two! Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace, Austin Cindric, Carson Hocevar, Tyler Reddick, Kyle Larson, and Todd Gilliland takes tenth after his battle with Ty Gibbs.
LAP 182: Christopher Bell extends his lead to over two seconds while Logano looks to pass Chris Buescher for third.
LAP 176: Ten to go in the stage: Bell leads with Hamlin in second, Buescher, Logano, Cindric, Wallace, Hocevar, Reddick, Larson, and Chase Elliott make up the top ten.
LAP 174: Christopher Bell uses his tire advantage to retake the lead from his teammate.
Both Brad Keselowski and Ryan Preece have fallen outside the top twenty after electing to stay out.
LAP 171: With all the tire issues, the field has shuffled immensely. Kyle Larson is back into the top ten while Bubba Wallace appears in the top ten for the first time today in eighth.
LAP 168: Denny Hamlin takes the lead for the first time today. He made quick work of the two drivers who stayed out.
Keselowski is already down to ninth.
LAP 167: Preece and Keselowksi take the green flag coming to 18 to go in the stage.
Anthony Alfredo restarts 11th after taking only right-side tires.
LAP 163: The leaders come down for new and or scuff tires to end the stage.
Denny Hamlin, Buescher, and Cindric all opt for right-side tires only but will line up behind Ryan Preece, and Brad Keselowski after they stayed out on track.
LAP 162: Cole Custer has a huge chunk taken out of his radiator from the incident. His crew pushes his car behind the wall.
LAP 160: Another flat right-front tire under caution! Michael McDowell surrenders tenth to repair his flat.
McDowell radioed to report it could have been from Gragson’s debris.
LAP 159: William Byron and Connor Zilisch’s front-right tires fall flat under caution and both pit while the pits are closed for new tires.
Byron, who pits from eighth, and Zilisch will have to start in the rear of the field for entering the pits while closed.
LAP 158: CAUTION! Noah Gragson cuts a right-front tire after a potential brake failure in the middle of turn two and hits the outside wall hard.
Gragson becomes the second car out of the event.
LAP 155: Bell continues to check out from the field as Denny Hamlin looks to make a move for second on Logano.
LAP 153: Chase Elliott has rebounded from his lap 103 caution to 17th while Blaney closes in behind him.
LAP 150: Christopher Bell leads by over a second to Joey Logano. Denny Hamin sits third with Ty Gibbs having a solid race in fourth. Tyler Reddick rounds out the top five.
Hocevar, Cindric, Byron, Buescher, and Austin Dillon make up the back half of the top ten.
LAP 147: Ryan Blaney is fighting three-wide on consecutive laps to make up ground. He’s already improved to 20th.
LAP 145: Chase Briscoe’s team were unable to repair damage as he becomes the first driver out of the Straight Talk Wireless 500 today.
LAP 141: Here comes “The Hurricane”. Carson Hocevar has officially cracked the top five as he battles side by side with Reddick for fifth.
LAP 140: It’s another Logano versus Bell restart. Bell wins this one and takes the lead.
Erik Jones earned the free pass from the last caution.
LAP 134: Joey Logano beats Bell out of the pits for the lead while Ryan Blaney has yet another loose wheel.
He stopped in Logano’s pit box to get it tightened and will start in the rear of the field once more this stage.
LAP 131: CAUTION! Chase Briscoe pops his right-side tires heading into turn three after complaints of a vibration for the previous few laps. He hits hard into the outside wall and takes his car behind the wall.
He just passed Tyler Reddick for third the lap before.
LAP 127: Ryan Blaney has charged into the top ten. Reddick and Briscoe continue to fight for third.
LAP 125: Bell takes the lead out of turn two! Logano tried a switchback move into turn three to no avail.
LAP 124: Here comes Christopher Bell for the lead. He has closed to under two car-lengths as Logano remounts his defense.
LAP 120: Logano has a half-second lead over Bell as the field starts to space out into the green-flag run.
Kyle Larson is up to 16th. Looks like crew chief Cliff Daniels and crew has made progress on the handling of his car.
LAP 116: Since he came down to tighten his loose wheel, Ryan Blaney has made great progress. He is up to 13th from 28th since the stage restarted.
LAP 114: Denny Hamlin works to the inside of William Byron to retake his position in the top five in fifth.
LAP 113: We’ve been keeping an eye on the climb of Carson Hocevar, who started the race in the rear, he has cracked the top ten in ninth.
LAP 110: Joey Logano fights Bell for the lead and takes it away on the high-side.
LAP 108: Suarez and Elliott maintain their led lap position. Josh Berry also came down to repair some slight damage. Zane Smith received the free pass.
Connor Zilisch came down for an adjustment under caution as well.
LAP 103: CAUTION! A big wreck that involves Chase Elliott, Daniel Suarez and more in turn two.
Both drivers were able to continue in the race as Suarez got loose on the inside of Keselowski.
LAP 102: Bell clears Logano for the lead at the stripe while Reddick and Briscoe battle for third.
LAP 100: Ryan Blaney comes back down pit road to tighten his loose left-front wheel. Bubba Wallace will also restart in the rear due to a speeding penalty.
The fastest car in the race so far will have to dig deep to come back from 28th.
LAP 97: Bell pits from the lead and brings down the rest of the lead lap cars to pit road. He maintained his lead as the cars one lap down wave around. Brad Keselowski earns the free pass.
LAP 94: CAUTION! Tires are starting to pop as Shane van Gisbergen has a right-front flat and spun in turn four.
Just a lap earlier, Kyle Busch slammed into the turn two wall on exit from losing his right-front tire. He sits two laps down
LAP 92: Here comes Hamlin. He takes the inside line in turn two and Reddick allows the faster Hamlin by.
LAP 87: The battle for third heats up between Joey Logano and Tyler Reddick. Their battle has drawn in Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe to the fight.
LAP 84: After his best ever Phoenix stage finish, Daniel Suarez now runs 17th after the stage ending pit cycle. Bell now has a 1.3 second lead over Blaney.
LAP 80: Carson Hocevar’s climb takes him to 14th now. Shane van Gisbergen is running ahead of him in 13th – a solid day so far for him.
LAP 77: All four Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota’s are in the top seven as Christopher Bell leads by nearly a second over Blaney now.
LAP 74: Ryan Blaney passes Joey Logano for second. William Byron is the highest running Chevrolet in the field in eighth.
LAP 72: Bell and Logano are side by side coming back to the line as Bell finally breaks free entering turn two for the lead.
LAP 64: Ryan Blaney leads the field down pit road under the stage break. He falls to third in the race of pit road as Christopher Bell’s crew provided quick serivce.
Kyle Larson stayed of pit road longer to make adjustments to his handling. He also had a speeding penalty. Riley Herbst is the free pass car.
STAGE ONE WINNER: Ryan Blaney
LAP 60: Ryan Blaney laps up to 26th and wins the first stage. Christopher Bell is second as he passed Joey Logano, who finished third, with two to go in the stage.
From fourth on down: Tyler Reddick, Denny Hamlin, Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez, Ty Gibbs, William Byron, Ross Chastain, and Ryan Preece earn stage points.
This is Blaney’s sixth stage win at Phoenix which is his most at any track in the series.
LAP 55: Heavy lap traffic still holds up our leader Ryan Blaney. Kyle Larson’s slide continues. He runs 13th.
LAP 50: Ten to go in the stage. The top ten is Ryan Blaney, Logano, Reddick, Bell, Hamlin, Cindric, Suarez, Byron, Gibbs, and Chastain.
LAP 47: Ryan Blaney finally takes the lead around the outside entering turn three. The three-wide lap cars of Custer, Gragson, and Austin Hill break up the air in front of Logano which aided Blaney.
LAP 44: Lap traffic is heavy in front of the leaders. Kyle Busch and Anthony Alfredo go a lap down as Blaney continues to search for a way around Logano.
Joey Logano is always a tough driver to pass. He is NASCAR Racing Insights highest rated defender in the Cup Series
LAP 41: Logano has positioned his car beautifully in front of Ryan Blaney to aero-block his teammate. Meanwhile, Christopher Bell and the Toyota camp close in on Austin Cindric.
Bell has been the fastest car on track for the previous six laps now.
LAP 37: Cody Ware is the next driver to fall a lap down as the battle for the lead stays tight.
LAP 35: Zane Smith loses his lap after a valiant effort to maintain the lead lap. Joey Logano still leads with Ryan Blaney two car lengths behind.
LAP 30: Blaney has closed in on the lead by around two-tenths a lap. Kyle Larson continues to fight his loose condition and falls to ninth.
LAP 25: Besides Larson, much of the top ten running order has stabilized. Joey Logano still leads but Blaney is closing in. He’s under a second away from him.
LAP 22: Larson loses his top five spot to Denny Hamlin now then sixth to Christopher Bell. His rear tires are slipping after twenty laps.
LAP 19: Each of the Team Penske cars ran 27.7 second lap times. Tyler Reddick makes his move on Kyle Larson for fourth.
LAP 16: Here comes Ryan Blaney! He’s the fastest car on track and clears teammate Cindric for second, two seconds back from leader Logano.
LAP 14: Austin Cindric and Ryan Blaney pass Kyle Larson. Roger Penske is smiling somewhere, his cars are running 1-2-3 early.
LAP 10: The biggest mover, Carson Hocevar, is up eight spots from the rear while Joey Logano stretches his lead by over a second to Kyle Larson.
LAP 7: The outside lane has opened up. Tyler Reddick takes sixth from Byron after he lost two positions in the last two laps.
LAP 4: William Byron is already up to fourth. Four spots ahead of his initial starting position. Zane Smith completes his pass-through penalty.
LAP 1: We are underway at Phoenix! The field fans out in the dogleg as Joey Logano leds lap one.
William Byron’s crew found a cracked brake rotor while pushing his car to the gird. Per the NASCAR rule book, they were allowed to change the rotor without penalty.
Brake rotor and tire failures will be an issue to watch for as the previous few Cup Series events had multiple per race.
Race Start
The Cup Series commences the annual West Coast swing and a return to the more “traditional” track types at Phoenix Raceway
Tyler Reddick will start his bid for four straight wins to start the 2026 Cup Series season in ninth today.
Team Penske cars looked strong in the single lap runs as Joey Logano will lead the field to green with his remaining teammates starting in the top five as well.
The 2-time defending spring Phoenix winner, Christopher Bell, starts 12th.
Brad Keselowski will start in the rear with a backup car after his crash in practice due to a flat right-front tire. Carson Hocevar drops from his top ten starting spot after unapproved adjustments. Finally, Zane Smith will start in the rear and serve a pass through penalty for making an adjustment after tech inspection was complete.
- Straight Talk Wireless 500
- Broadcast: FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
- Distance: 312 laps
- Stages: 60 / 185 / 312
- Fuel Window: 95-100 laps
- Average time of race: 3:02:32
- Pit road speed: 45 mph
- Caution car speed: 50 mph
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Ryan Kemna View All
Ryan Kemna is a photojournalist for The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2025.
Currently residing in the Minneapolis, MN, area, Kemna brings his passion for motorsports, photography, and a good story to readers.