Ryan Blaney claims victory in Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte

Ryan Blaney took the checkered flag in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway Monday, snapping a 59-race winless streak.

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The monkey is officially off the back of Blaney, who last won in August 2021 in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway. Additionally, it’s a Memorial Day Weekend sweep for team owner Roger Penske, who watched his driver, Josef Newgarden, pick up the Indy 500 victory the day prior.

“Thank you guys so much!” Blaney told his team, per Jeff Gluck of The Athletic. “How about that? Holy cow. Gosh, that feels good. Cannot wait to celebrate with you guys.”

Like Newgarden, Blaney chose to be a man of the people, jumping through the fence on the front stretch to celebrate with the fans who stuck it out all weekend through the rain.

“What a weekend,” Blaney told Wendy Venturini of Performance Racing Network. “Roger winning at Indy and us winning the 600, that’s just so cool. To snap a winless streak it’s so cool. It’s been a long time coming.”

Blaney led 163-of-400 laps in the NASCAR Cup Series’ longest race of the season. He began a Lap 381 restart on the outside of the front row next to William Byron, dusting the No. 24 Chevrolet with the help of a push from Martin Truex Jr. Blaney quickly expanded his lead and never relinquished it.

“We just kept working on it all night,” Blaney said. “I didn’t feel great at the end of Stage 3, I was getting pressured by a couple of guys, the team did a great job working on it all night. Got the lead and we stretched it out.”

Ryan Blaney outlasts field through caution-ridden race

Postponed from Sunday due to inclement weather, the Coca-Cola 600 essentially turned into a game of avoid the wreck. Through four hours and 59 minutes of action, 15 minutes short of NASCAR’s Modern Era record for longest race time-wise, 16 caution flags were thrown. Additionally, rainfall through Turns 3 and 4 during Stage 2 resulted in a 30-minute red flag.

Drivers were permitted to exit their cars during the delay, leading to an altercation between Aric Almirola and Bubba Wallace. Almirola shoved Wallace on pit road before NASCAR officials intervened. The two made contact with each other just prior to rain bringing out the red flag in Stage 2. Contact occurred after Wallace cut in front of Almirola in a multi-car battle. Almirola responded by running Wallace up the track before making contact with the No. 23 Chevrolet.

“I felt like I raced him clean and he was racing me dirty. I let him go and then he shot me the bird,” Almirola told Alan Cavanna of Performance Racing Network. “So I went to ask him why he shot the bird and he started mouthing off and cussing me. I wasn’t gonna have that.”