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Following a series of restarts and a late-race battle with Alex Bowman, Ryan Blaney was able to take control in the closing laps to win The Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono Raceway, picking up his second win of the 2024 season and the 12th win of his NASCAR Cup Series career. The defending Cup champion has now won two out of his last five races, and he also earned another Pocono win to add to his first Cup win earned at the track in 2017.
In a race that looked like it was going to come down to which team could get their strategy correct, Blaney came off pit road second after taking two tires on his final stop just between Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott, when both Larson and Elliott were caught speeding on pit road. After three quick cautions took fuel mileage out of the equation, Blaney was able to withstand Alex Bowman's attempt to run him down before building a two-second lead on Denny Hamlin at race's end.
The Great American Getaway 400 unofficial results
- #12 - Ryan Blaney
- #11 - Denny Hamlin
- #48 - Alex Bowman
- #24 - William Byron
- #22 - Joey Logano
- #45 - Tyler Reddick
- #6 - Brad Keselowski
- #19 - Martin Truex Jr.
- #9 - Chase Elliott
- #23 - Bubba Wallace
Long after he once raced quarter midgets as a child on the grounds of Pocono Raceway, The Tricky Triangle was the site of Blaney's first Cup win in June 2017 when he outdueled Cup champions Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick for the victory while driving for Wood Brother Racing. Now a Cup champion himself and driving for Team Penske, Blaney's second Pocono win further builds on his momentum in the summer months as he gets ready to try and defend his Cup title.
"It was super special to win here seven years ago with the Wood Brothers, and it's just as special to win here today," Blaney told NBC Sports. "You love tracks that have special meaning to you, places you get your first win and things like that. So this place means so much to me. … Just so proud of the effort. Looking forward to hopefully continuing this momentum to next week at The Boss' track up in Indy."
With his second win of the year, Blaney becomes the fifth driver this season to win multiple races, and his second victory comes far sooner than it did in his championship season a year ago. In 2023, Blaney did not earn his second win until Talladega in the fall, a victory which sparked his run to his first Cup title over the remainder of the playoffs.
Hits continue for Kyle Busch
Just when things were finally starting to look up for Kyle Busch after a ninth-place finish at Chicago, Sunday marked a return to the dismal status quo that the two-time Cup champion has found himself in as he endures one of the worst stretches of races in his entire career. Busch's day began with his team having to scramble to replace an oil line on his car a mere hour before the command to start engines, and he spent much of his race mired deep in the field before a controversial accident left him with his fifth DNF in seven races since the month of June began.
On a restart with 40 laps to go, Busch took a hard left entering turn one to throw a block on Corey LaJoie, which led to LaJoie turning back up the track and into the left rear of Busch's car as he attempted to get an angle to make the corner. The contact spun Busch up in front of traffic, triggering an eight-car crash that took Busch out as well as multiple other cars including Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Preece, Harrison Burton and others.
Busch -- by now seemingly stuck in a cycle of weekly disaster -- dropped to 102 points below the playoff cut line, but tried to remain ambivalent about the incident and about his circumstances as the outlook for his 2024 season grows more and more dire.
"You try to get in front of the run that's coming, and I was trying to get in front of that run," Busch told reporters outside of the infield care center. "Sometimes, some don't lift. Kamikaze."
LaJoie's crew was fairly unrepentant about the contact on their radio, making several comments -- including one that suggested Busch got what he deserved -- that were picked up on by the NBC broadcast. Speaking for himself on pit road after the race, LaJoie explained that he had been pushed by A.J. Allmendinger and was trying to get in line behind Busch when Busch blocked him a second time.
"I had a bit of a run, the 16 gave me a big shot. I got to the left rear of the 8 and he blocked it once, and I kind of held the wheel straight and I was almost anticipating our bumpers kind of lining up and giving him a little bit of a shove," LaJoie said. "But when he blocked it the second time, it just turned him across my nose.
"I hate it tore up some good cars. ... I'm sure he's mad. I'm sure there's guys that got caught up that are mad. But I didn't feel like it was a bonehead move."
Thanks to a high level of attrition in the final 40 laps, only 24 of the 37 cars that started Sunday's race ended up finishing it. LaJoie wound up finishing 19th, while Busch would be credited with a 32nd place finish.
Bubble Watch
Among the cars that failed to finish on Sunday was Ross Chastain, whose race came to an early end when he spun and hit the turn 3 wall, causing terminal damage to his car that left him with a 36th place finish. With Chastain still winless in 2024, his second DNF in his last three starts marks a disastrous development, as he has now fallen to 16th on the playoff grid and the last driver above the cut line, just 27 points ahead of Bubba Wallace. Wallace capitalized on Chastain's misfortune, earning a top 10 finish that allowed him to make up considerable ground.
Another playoff hopeful who was left with a DNF was Ty Gibbs, who blew an engine on a restart with 29 laps to go and finished 27th. While Gibbs continues to hold a much more comfortable advantage on the cut line at 67 points above than Chastain or Chris Buescher (+43), he is far from secure in his playoff spot with just five races remaining until the playoffs begin -- and with any bad finishes set to be amplified over the next month and a half.
Martin Truex Jr. would finish eighth and leaves Pocono with a 137 point advantage on the cut line, while Chris Buescher just missed out on a top 10 finish after leading 19 laps and came home 11th. Meanwhile, Chase Elliott re-took the regular season championship lead from Kyle Larson by three points after finishing ninth.
Race results rundown
- After winning a week ago at Chicago, Alex Bowman was a factor in the closing laps for the second week in a row before finishing third, picking up his sixth top five and 12th top 10 finish of the 2024 season. Bowman's 12 top 10's now tie him with teammate William Byron for the second-most this season, which trails only Tyler Reddick's series-high mark of 14 top 10s. Reddick would add to his own top 10 total by finishing sixth, as did Byron who finished fourth.
- While his results have remained wildly inconsistent, Joey Logano picked up his fourth top five of the season by finishing fifth. Of Logano's four top fives, three have come since the month of June started at Gateway, a streak which includes his win at Nashville but also includes finishes of 21st, 32nd, and 23rd.
- Although his recent performance was overshadowed by a $50,000 fine for retaliating against Alex Bowman on the cooldown lap a week ago at Chicago, Bubba Wallace's 10th-place finish marked his second top 10 and third top 15 finish in his last three starts. Wallace now owns an average finish of 10th over his last three races as he fights to make the playoffs for the second year in a row.
- Erik Jones had one of his best overall runs of the entire 2024 season, earning points in both stages and running as high as second before finishing 14th. Jones now has two top 15 finishes in his last four starts, which mark his best finishes since he missed two races due to a back injury suffered in a crash at Talladega.
- In addition to Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson and Ty Gibbs, Daniel Suarez was also among four different drivers who got caught speeding in section 7 of pit road as the leaders made their final stops of the day. Suarez wound up having to make evasive maneuvers on multiple occasions to avoid crashes, but did so successfully on his way to a respectable 16th place finish.
- Cody Ware made his 100th career Cup start on Sunday and third-overall this season, putting in a solid outing that saw him at times outrun Kyle Busch as Busch ran in the back half of the field. Ware was in position to earn a solid finish, but was limited to 26th after a piece of debris from the multi-car crash in turn 1 damaged his radiator.
Next Race
After multiple years running the road course along the Yard of Bricks, the NASCAR Cup Series returns to the hallowed ground of Indianapolis Motor Speedway's oval for the 30th Anniversary edition of the Brickyard 400 next Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
