USA TODAY International Edition
Blaney digs in for win at Atlanta
Ryan Blaney dug in over the long run in the final stage at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and it paid off with a victory in the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 on Sunday.
Blaney caught and passed the day’s dominant driver, Kyle Larson, with eight laps to go. Blaney went to the top lane in Turns 3 and 4 to get a run on Larson and made the pass down the frontstretch. He led 25 laps en route to the win, his first of the season, first at Atlanta, and the fifth of his NASCAR Cup Series career.
“Gosh, we had a great long- run car all day,” Blaney said. “It took us a little bit to get going. I was pretty free all day, so we made a really good change to tighten me up where I needed it, and it looked like Kyle ( Larson) was getting loose, and I’m happy it worked in our favor that there was a couple long runs at the end that kind of let us get there.
“He got slowed up behind some lap traffic, but I’m really proud of this whole BodyArmor, Menards No. 12 group. We’ve been good this year and had some bad breaks, and it’s nice to close out a race like that.”
Larson finished second after leading 269 of 325 laps and winning the first two stages. On the last run, Larson credited Blaney with having gotten his car better and messing with the flow of Larson’s race.
Going into tire save mode after losing the lead until the final pit stop, Blaney was 2.1 seconds behind Larson when the run to the finish began. As Larson started to fight his car and try to put Blaney’s Team Penske teammate, Joey Logano, a lap down, Blaney closed the gap and was at Larson’s bumper with nine laps to go. The winning pass came a lap later.
Alex Bowman finished third, Denny Hamlin fourth and Kyle Busch fifth.
Blaney is the sixth different winner in six races this season.