NASCAR Cup Charlotte: Blaney caps Penske's big weekend with Coke 600 win

Coming one day after Josef Newgarden won the Indianapolis 500 for Team Penske, Blaney won out in a race delayed one day by rain after beating William Byron's Hendrick Chevrolet at a restart with 20 laps to go.

Blaney and Byron had traded the lead multiple times during the race, with Byron having the added advantage of the first pit stall which repeatedly gave him the lead off pit road.

The win is Blaney's first in a points-paying race since his August 2021 victory at Daytona, although he did win last year’s non-points All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway.

"It's so cool just to be a part of it, let alone win it," Blaney said after celebrating with fans in the grandstands, much like Newgarden did on Sunday.

Asked what the result meant given his last victory was nearly two years ago, Blaney added: "You start to get to feel like you can't win anymore when you don't win in a while. It kind of gets hard.

"So, just super thankful to the No. 12 guys for believing in me. Thank you (fans) for sticking around. Really appreciate it."

Byron, who had been awarded pole after the rain also caused Saturday's qualifying session to be washed out, had edged Christopher Bell to claim the Stage 1 win in a photo finish.

The second stage was disrupted by light rain that caused a 31-minute delay in proceedings. An accident involving Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin exiting Turn 4 on lap 186, Elliott squeezed into the wall before bouncing into Hamlin and turning the Toyota into the wall, then ended the race early for both drivers. 

William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports, Liberty University Patriotic Chevrolet Camaro and Ryan Blaney, Team Penske, BodyArmor Cherry Lime Ford Mustang

Photo by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images

Chris Buescher had taken the Stage 2 spoils over Kevin Harvick, with Blaney fifth, but the Penske driver moved to the front and won Stage 3 after passing Byron then holding off Tyler Reddick. 

Midway through Stage 4, top-five contenders Reddick and Harvick exiting Turn 4 to send the race back under caution for the 13th time and set up a late restart with 38 laps remaining. Zane Smith, making just his sixth career Cup start, stayed out and led the way followed by Byron and Kyle Larson.

An incident involving Larson, Ty Gibbs, Joey Logano and Bell exiting Turn 2 then set up the final restart with 20 laps remaining. Blaney took command and never relinquished the lead to the flag.

Martin Truex Jr. finished third, Bubba Wallace rallied to finish fourth and his 23XI Racing teammate Tyler Reddick rounded out the top five.

Completing the top-10 were Kyle Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Buescher, Austin Dillon and Smith.

NASCAR Cup Charlotte race results (400 laps)

Cla	Driver	Manufacturer	Time	Gap
1	Ryan Blaney	Ford	4:58'50.315
2	William Byron	Chevrolet	4:58'50.978	0.663
3	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	4:58'51.368	1.053
4	Bubba Wallace	Toyota	4:58'52.867	2.552
5	Tyler Reddick	Toyota	4:58'52.983	2.668
6	Kyle Busch	Chevrolet	4:58'53.848	3.533
7	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Chevrolet	4:58'55.434	5.119
8	Chris Buescher	Ford	4:58'56.496	6.181
9	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	4:58'56.882	6.567
10	Zane Smith	Ford	4:58'57.486	7.171
11	Kevin Harvick	Ford	4:58'58.464	8.149
12	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	4:58'58.558	8.243
13	Ryan Preece	Ford	4:58'59.592	9.277
14	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	4:58'59.988	9.673
15	Justin Haley	Chevrolet	4:59'00.206	9.891
16	J.J. Yeley	Ford	4:59'01.870	11.555
17	Corey Lajoie	Chevrolet	4:59'03.273	12.958
18	Harrison Burton	Ford	4:59'03.610	13.295
19	Brad Keselowski	Ford	4:59'03.942	13.627
20	Chase Briscoe	Ford	4:59'04.296	13.981
21	Joey Logano	Ford	4:59'05.691	15.376
22	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	4:59'05.841	15.526
23	Daniel Suarez	Chevrolet	4:59'07.447	17.132
24	Christopher Bell	Toyota	4:59'13.079	22.764
25	Aric Almirola	Ford	4:59'15.411	25.096
26	Ty Gibbs	Toyota	4:59'13.101	2 Laps
27	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	4:59'15.829	3 Laps
28	Michael McDowell	Ford	4:59'10.747	4 Laps
29	B.J. McLeod	Chevrolet	4:58'55.302	8 Laps
30	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	4:44'56.266	23 Laps
31	Austin Cindric	Ford	4:33'09.561	31 Laps
32	Erik Jones	Chevrolet	4:59'07.813	59 Laps
33	Todd Gilliland	Ford	3:16'34.007	135 Laps
34	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	2:12'41.801	215 Laps
35	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	2:12'42.155	215 Laps
36	Noah Gragson	Chevrolet	2:00'39.079	283 Laps
37	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	1:53'31.515	285 Laps
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