Who… should you be talking about after the race?
A year ago, with his back against the wall in the playoffs, Ryan Blaney drove his way to an improbable Martinsville Speedway victory. That secured him a spot in the championship race, and from there, the rest is history — and history will recall Blaney as the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion.
The clock struck won. pic.twitter.com/wmvfna8G8J
— Team Penske (@Team_Penske) November 4, 2024
But that was then and this is 2024, and once again, Blaney went to Martinsville with his back against the wall, his chances of defending that title all but zero. Starting 14th, Blaney hadn’t shown the speed some of the other contenders had.
By the end of stage one, Blaney was in the top five. By the end of stage two, he was in the top two. Blaney had the fastest car by the second half but had to overcome a couple of slow pit stops.
With under 50 laps to go, which isn’t a lot of distance at Martinsville, Blaney was back inside the top five after final pit stops and was running down the leaders at an eye-popping pace. But that looked like a mission in futility; time was running out, and as soon as Blaney wore out his tires, he wouldn’t be able to maintain his pace as Chase Elliott was also running down Kyle Larson on fresh tires.
Elliott passed Larson and set sail. But Blaney continued to close, and with 15 to go he caught Elliott. And passed him. And drove away to win the Xfinity 500.
Blaney not only passed Elliott but left him behind, opening a lead of over 2.5 seconds in just 14 laps. He’ll defend his title next weekend at Phoenix Raceway, joining Tyler Reddick and Joey Logano as winners in the Round of 8 and William Byron, who squeezed in on points after a controversial finish. Suddenly the title is no longer out of Blaney’s reach.
And don’t forget Shane van Gisbergen. After starting 29th, losing a lap early and running near the bottom of the barrel for much of the day, van Gisbergen rebounded to finish a solid 12th.
Van Gisbergen moves to the Cup Series full time in 2025, so solid finishes and strong recoveries like he had on Sunday (Nov. 10) will serve him well as he navigates Cup’s steep learning curve.
Well I’ve never really celebrated a 12th place before but after how tough I’ve found the cup series on ovals I’m pretty happy!! Great racing all day, the @AcceptanceHQ @KauligRacing Chevy was…
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