By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service
PHOENIX, Ariz. – Ryan Blaney completed a hard-earned Team Penske sweep at the famed Phoenix Raceway in Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 500 – recovering from multiple early race setbacks to claim his first NASAR Cup Series trophy of the 2026 season and answer his Penske team’s Saturday IndyCar win at the track with a spectacular and popular stock car victory a day later.
A pair of pit stop issues – including a penalty for pitting outside his box – put Blaney at the rear of the field twice early in the race but the 2023 series champion was not to be denied – rallying back in his No. 12 Team Penske Ford and taking the lead for good with 10 laps remaining.
Blaney’s team took tire tires on a final stop on a caution with 12 laps remaining and made his way forward after restarting on the second row.
He got around then race leader Ty Gibbs with 10 to go and then held off Gibbs’ Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell who led the most laps – 176 of 312 – but faced a huge task moving up from an eighth-place position on the final restart as the first car to take four tires. With the fresh Goodyear rubber, Bell at least kept Blaney honest, cutting into the lead with each lap, but ultimately coming .399-second short.
“Just perseverance,” Blaney conceded of his afternoon. “I mean, everybody on the 12-group persevered all day. We had a couple mistakes that we learned from, got better, had to come from the back a couple times.
“Obviously the 20 [Bell] was the best car. But [Blaney’s crew chief] Jonathan [Hassler] made a great call to take two [on last stop]. We were able to get the lead. Hold them off. I don’t know how many more laps I could have held them off.
“Really proud of everybody at Team Penske. We swept the weekend with [Josef] Newgarden winning yesterday, us winning today. Can’t wait to see [team owner] Roger [Penske]. … Can’t say enough about the 12 guys for keeping their head down and doing what they do and Jonathan again for making a good call at the end.”
Bright sun and temperatures near 90-degrees welcomed a huge crowd for the Sunday’s second half of the well-received racing doubleheader weekend with both IndyCar and NASCAR marquee events. Many of the open-wheel racers stayed at track and found spots atop team pit stands to watch the stock cars compete.
And the Penske team certainly made the most of the unique doubleheader opportunity.
It marks the 32-year-old Blaney’s 18th career victory and second at Phoenix and vaults him to second place in the championship standings – now 60 points behind 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick, who saw his historic three-race winning streak to start the season end with an eighth-place showing Sunday.
Reddick ran among the top-10 throughout the race but never truly challenged for the victory.
“We kind of just hovered around fifth all day,” conceded Reddick, whose 23XI Racing team co-owner Michael Jordan was again trackside in support of the organization’s record-setting 2026 season start.
“Looking at the board over here, scored the fourth most amount of points on the day,” he added. “That’s kind of what we need to keep doing all year to keep the lead that we have and try and hang on to it. Solid day. If we’re not going to win, these are the kind of days we need to have. Glad to get out of here with some points.”
Bell, the defending race winner, whose own three-race winning streak last season included this Phoenix race, was understandably disappointed to finish runner-up after leading the most laps. The upside, however, is that his No. 20 JGR team dramatically moved up from 18th in the championship standings before the race to now sixth place heading to Las Vegas next week. He and Blaney each won a stage Sunday.
“Ultimately, if we had more green flag laps, I think we could have made a run at him,” Bell said. “I don’t know. You win some, you lose some. This one stings, but on the positive side I’m really proud of our entire team. It’s something to build on. It was a day that we needed. We got a lot of stage points, finished second – just bummed whenever they get away like that.”
Beyond Blaney and Bell, reigning series champion, Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson finished third followed by Bell’s JGR teammates Gibbs – who now has back-to-back fourth-place finishes on the season – and Denny Hamlin.
Reddick’s teammate Bubba Wallace was sixth, followed by Hendrick’s William Byron, Reddick, Spire Motorsports Michael McDowell and Legacy Motor Club’s Erik Jones. Popular driver Shane Van Gisbergen – the series road racing ace – rallied to an 11th-place showing even after being involved in multiple incidents on the day.
The race’s 12 cautions tied the track record for yellow flags. There were eight leaders and 23 lead changes.
Anthony Alfredo, who was subbing for Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman, finished 33rd in the No. 48 Chevrolet, collected in a multi-car crash with just less than 100 laps remaining.
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for next Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube (4 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Wood Brothers Racing’s Josh Berry is the defending race winner.
Interviews:
Ryan Blaney (No. 12 Team Penske Ford) – NASCAR Cup Series Race Winner’s Press Conference –
Jonathan Hassler and Michael Nelson – Press Conference –
NASCAR Cup Series Race – Straight Talk Wireless 500
Phoenix Raceway
Avondale, Arizona
Sunday, March 8, 2026
1. (5) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 312.
2. (12) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 312.
3. (2) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 312.
4. (14) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 312.
5. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 312.
6. (28) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 312.
7. (9) William Byron, Chevrolet, 312.
8. (8) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 312.
9. (16) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 312.
10. (32) Erik Jones, Toyota, 312.
11. (18) Shane Van Gisbergen, Chevrolet, 312.
12. (30) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 312.
13. (13) Ryan Preece, Ford, 312.
14. (17) Chris Buescher, Ford, 312.
15. (37) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 312.
16. (25) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 312.
17. (29) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 312.
18. (22) Riley Herbst, Toyota, 312.
19. (23) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 312.
20. (7) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 312.
21. (27) Austin Hill(i), Chevrolet, 312.
22. (21) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 312.
23. (26) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 312.
24. (34) Cody Ware, Chevrolet, 312.
25. (15) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 312.
26. (33) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 311.
27. (24) Zane Smith, Ford, Accident, 294.
28. (6) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 286.
29. (19) Connor Zilisch #, Chevrolet, Suspension, 281.
30. (4) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, Accident, 254.
31. (1) Joey Logano, Ford, Accident, 253.
32. (10) Josh Berry, Ford, Accident, 253.
33. (31) Anthony Alfredo(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 217.
34. (3) Austin Cindric, Ford, Accident, 216.
35. (36) Cole Custer, Chevrolet, Radiator, 159.
36. (35) Noah Gragson, Ford, Accident, 155.
37. (20) Chase Briscoe, Toyota, Accident, 131.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 88.219 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 32 Mins, 12 Secs. Margin of Victory: .399 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 12 for 86 laps.
Lead Changes: 23 among 8 drivers.
Lap Leaders: J. Logano 1-46;R. Blaney 47-64;J. Logano 65;C. Bell 66-96;J. Logano 97;C. Bell 98-108;J. Logano 109-124;C. Bell 125-133;J. Logano 134-138;C. Bell 139-162;J. Logano 163;R. Preece 164-167;D. Hamlin 168-172;C. Bell 173-190;J. Logano 191;C. Bell 192-211;J. Logano 212;J. Berry 213-225;C. Bell 226-247;J. Logano 248;C. Bell 249-289;W. Byron 290;T. Gibbs 291-302;R. Blaney 303-312.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Christopher Bell 8 times for 176 laps; Joey Logano 9 times for 73 laps; Ryan Blaney 2 times for 28 laps; Josh Berry 1 time for 13 laps; Ty Gibbs 1 time for 12 laps; Denny Hamlin 1 time for 5 laps; Ryan Preece 1 time for 4 laps; William Byron 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 12,20,22,45,11,2,7,54,24,1
Stage #2 Top Ten: 20,11,22,17,23,2,77,45,5,34
