Ryan Blaney leads most laps en route to Pocono victory

by Dominic Aragon and Jonathan Fjeld

Leading the final 44 laps, Ryan Blaney captured the win Sunday in The Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono Raceway.

Blaney earned his second NASCAR Cup Series win of 2024. It was also his second Cup Series win at the 2.5-mile speedway in the Keystone State. He took home the win after taking two tires and the lead on lap 117.

Blaney led the most laps Sunday en route to his 12th career victory in the Cup Series. After opening the first 16 races of the year without a win, the defending series champion has now won twice in the last five races.

“Things are really starting to click,” Blaney said. “We had a couple races slip away so it was nice to stick to the plan with a car that was fast enough. It’s so cool to win here again.”

The USA broadcast showed a photo of Blaney racing a quarter-midget at the track when dad Dave Blaney raced full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series. Blaney earned his first Cup Series win at Pocono Raceway in 2017.

“At the time, I just wasn’t thinking of that,” he said. “I just was thinking of how to win each night. I got my first win here seven years ago so this place means so much to me.”

Denny Hamlin finished second after leading 31 laps. The defending Pocono winner and all-time winner at the track didn’t get No. 8 but he did get his first Top-10 finish and Top-5 since finishing runner-up at Gateway, six races ago.

“It’s a shame we couldn’t get to Victory Lane,” Hamlin said. “It was a solid day. This kind of rebound makes you feel a little better.”

Alex Bowman finished third after snapping an 80-race winless streak at the Chicago Street Course a week ago. He battled with Hamlin in the closing laps.

“Hard to be satisfied when you restart on the front row on the final restart and can’t get the job done,” Bowman said. “It’s a good solid day for us. It’s been a good two weeks for us.”

TOP-10 FINISHERS (LAP 160): Blaney, Hamlin, Bowman, William Byron, Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick, Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr. Chase Elliott, and Bubba Wallace

Through the Field

Kyle Larson finished 13th and lost the points lead to Elliott. Elliott leads Larson by 3 points, Reddick by 15, Hamlin by 20, Byron by 57 and Truex by 63 after Pocono.

Carson Hocevar was the highest-finishing rookie. He finished 17th on the lead lap.

23 drivers finished on the lead lap. Michael McDowell had brake issues and finished 24th, two laps down. He was the only driver who finished the race and finished off the lead lap.

13 drivers failed to finish the race. That is the most for a Pocono race since the August 2012 race when 14 drivers failed to finish.

Among them was polesitter Ty Gibbs. Gibbs led twice for 22 laps but finished 27th. He blew an engine and spewed fluid on the track on lap 134.

STAGE 1 AND STAGE 2

Three cautions for incident fell in the first 116 laps.

The first one was on lap 15. Noah Gragson wrecked in Turn 1 and brought out a caution. That caution inspired drivers like Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski and Christopher Bell to pit and get fresher tires. 

Up front, Ty Gibbs lost the lead to Martin Truex Jr. on lap 17. Truex held the lead at the end of Stage 1.

STAGE ONE TOP-10 (LAP 30): Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, William Byron, Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Christopher Bell, Erik Jones

Brad Keselowski inherited the lead at the beginning of Stage 2. The thought was the strategies were going to split before the end of the stage.

Then, Ross Chastain crashed in Turn 3 on lap 54. 

When the race restarted on lap 58, Josh Berry, Ty Gibbs and Austin Cindric assumed the lead on an alternate strategy. They pitted earlier in the race with the fuel window at around 40-42 laps.

Denny Hamlin caught up to Berry and eventually passed him. Then, Berry, along with Gibbs and Cindric had to pit to align with the aforementioned strategy. The expectation was that they would jump to the lead once everyone else pitted during the stage break.

Chris Buescher, Ryan Blaney and Martin Truex Jr. caught on and also pitted before the end of the stage.

STAGE TWO TOP-10 (LAP 90): Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, William Byron, Erik Jones, Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman, Christopher Bell, Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick

FINAL STAGE

Once the frontrunners pitted, Buescher, Berry, Blaney, Truex, Gibbs and Cindric cycled to the lead. Their last pit stop was going to come on the same lap as everyone else. However, everyone else could take on less fuel and spend less time on pit road.

Buescher heeded this and took off on the restart with 60 laps to go. He pulled a multi-second lead on Blaney, Truex, Brad Keselowski and Kyle Larson — the latter two whom Buescher wanted to get away from.

A caution on lap 116 for Todd Gilliland blowing a brake rotor and crashing brought them all back together. Whatever pit strategy that existed was gone. It was all down to who would take two tires and who would take four — and who would avoid mistakes.

Ryan Blaney took two tires and jumped to second, sandwiched by the Hendrick Motorsports duo of Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson who also took two tires.

But, Elliott and Larson each made a mistake. They sped on pit road and dropped to the rear of the field, along with Ty Gibbs and Daniel Suarez.

They all narrowly missed a wreck on lap 122 where Kyle Busch blocked Corey LaJoie and LaJoie bumped Busch entering turn one. That took out Busch, Harrison Burton, Ryan Preece and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

“That 7 [Corey LaJoie] is a weapon. A damn weapon,” Richard Childress said over the radio.

Childress’ driver Kyle Busch now has six finishes of 27th or worse in the last nine NASCAR Cup Series races.

The race went back to green briefly before John Hunter Nemechek pushed Zane Smith up the track and triggered a wreck that took both of them out exiting turn two on lap 128.

Then, on lap 134, Ty Gibbs’ day went from bad to worse. He blew an engine and dumped fluid on the track, which ended his day.

Up front on what was the final restart, on lap 137, Ryan Blaney took the lead but couldn’t shake Alex Bowman off. Bowman looked strong after his first win in 80 races but just couldn’t find a way to maneuver his car around Blaney’s wake.

Blaney pulled out to a 3-second lead that Hamlin chopped down to 1.3 seconds but couldn’t erase in the closing laps.

The next race for the NASCAR Cup Series is scheduled for Sunday, July 21, at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. NASCAR will return to the iconic oval layout at the speedway for the first time since 2020.