{"id":10511,"date":"2017-06-11T21:55:05","date_gmt":"2017-06-12T02:55:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=10511"},"modified":"2017-06-11T21:55:05","modified_gmt":"2017-06-12T02:55:05","slug":"ryan-blaney-makes-late-pass-holds-off-kevin-harvick-for-thrilling-win-at-pocono","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2017\/06\/11\/ryan-blaney-makes-late-pass-holds-off-kevin-harvick-for-thrilling-win-at-pocono\/","title":{"rendered":"Ryan Blaney makes late pass, holds off Kevin Harvick for thrilling win at Pocono"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

NASCAR Wire Service<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

LONG POND, Pa. \u2014 Dogged by Kevin Harvick<\/strong> for the final eight laps of Sunday\u2019s Axalta presents the Pocono 400, Ryan Blaney<\/strong> held off the 2014 series champion in a breathtaking battle to claim the first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series<\/a> victory of his career.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Ryan Blaney, driver of the #21 Motorcraft\/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford, takes the checkered flag ahead of Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Busch Beer Ford, to win the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Axalta presents the Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway on June 11, 2017 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Chris Trotman\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

After a restart on Lap 148 of 160, Blaney grabbed the lead from polesitter Kyle Busch on Lap 151, with Busch on older tires, doing everything he could to block Blaney\u2019s No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford. Racing side by side with Busch\u2019s No. 18 Toyota down the Long Pond straightaway, Blaney stayed in the gas through the Tunnel Turn and cleared Busch\u2019s Camry off the corner.<\/p>\n

A lap later, Harvick passed Busch and closed within a car-length of Blaney, who drove flawlessly for the final eight laps to keep Harvick at bay. Blaney crossed the finish line .139 seconds ahead of Harvick to become the 19th different driver to win for the Wood Brothers and the first since Trevor Bayne took the checkered flag in the 2011 Daytona 500. Blaney, 23, is also the youngest first-time winner since Bayne, who was 20 years old when he took the checkered flag for the Wood Brothers at Daytona.<\/p>\n

When Blaney climbed from his car in Victory Lane, the magnitude of what he had just accomplished still hadn\u2019t registered.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Ryan Blaney, driver of the #21 Motorcraft\/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Axalta presents the Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway on June 11, 2017 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jeff Zelevansky\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI think it exceeds the dream a little bit,\u201d Blaney said. \u201cI grew up watching my dad (Dave Blaney) race on this race track, and it\u2019s so cool to get the Wood Brothers in Victory Lane, No. 1, and to do it here at a race track that is really close to Ohio \u2014 a home to me \u2014 is pretty awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

First, however, Blaney had to get past Busch after the final restart, no easy task, even though Busch had stayed out on older tires during the fourth and final caution, called for Kasey Kahne\u2019s brake failure and crash into the Turn 1 wall.<\/p>\n

\u201cKyle stayed out and he was on a little bit older tires, and it looked like he was getting pretty tight, especially off of (Turn) 1, and that\u2019s where new tires really seemed to come alive, because you could hold the line and get runs on him, downshift and get next to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a big run on him off of (Turn) 3, and he did a good job blocking, and we were able to get under him, but then I had to hold the 4 (Harvick) off. He was super-fast. I can\u2019t thank Kevin enough for racing me clean. That was really cool of him, but it was definitely hectic. Hopefully, the fans liked it. It was really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Ryan Blaney, driver of the #21 Motorcraft\/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Axalta presents the Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway on June 11, 2017 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jerry Markland\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Harvick, whose engine survived a missed shift at the end of Stage 2, was waiting for Blaney to make a mistake over the final eight laps, but the mistake never came. And Harvick\u2019s brakes weren\u2019t stout enough to allow him to charge the corners as effectively as Blaney could.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe never could stop like we needed to all weekend, so you just had to be really careful with the brakes,\u201d Harvick said. \u201cIf I\u2019d over drive it for a lap or two the pedal would start going down, and then I was really at a deficit. So I had to be very aware of where I let off every lap.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 21 (Blaney) could charge the corner a little bit harder than I could, and my best bet, the way I passed people all day was waiting for him to slip up off the bottom, and he never slipped up off the bottom. So I just didn\u2019t have enough laps to finish that last pass off, and Ryan did a good job of not slipping a wheel with the amount of laps that he had left and was able to hold on.\u201d<\/p>\n

For race results, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Media Center Interviews:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Darrell Wallace – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/MENCS_Pocono_DWallaceJr_061117.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

Kevin Harvick and Erik Jones – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/MENCS_Pocono_Harvick_Jones_061117.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

Ryan Blaney – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/MENCS_Pocono_RBlaney_061117.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"

Darrell Wallace Jr., driver of the #43 Smithfield Ford, and Ryan Blaney, driver of the #21 Motorcraft\/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford, pose for a photo opportunity prior to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Axalta presents the Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway on June 11, 2017 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. Wallace will make his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series debut today at Pocono Raceway. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"

Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M’s Red, White, & Blue Toyota, leads the field to the green flag to start the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Axalta presents the Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway on June 11, 2017 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Chris Trotman\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"

Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Busch Beer Ford, leads a pack of cars during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Axalta presents the Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway on June 11, 2017 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Chris Trotman\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"

Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M’s Red, White, & Blue Toyota, and Matt Kenseth, driver of the #20 DeWalt Flexvolt Toyota, lead the field under caution prior to the start of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Axalta presents the Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway on June 11, 2017 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"

Erik Jones, driver of the #77 GameStop\/Cars 3 – Driven to Win Toyota, leads a pack of cars during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Axalta presents the Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway on June 11, 2017 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Chris Trotman\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"

Darrell Wallace Jr., driver of the #43 Smithfield Ford, leads Ryan Blaney, driver of the #21 Motorcraft\/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford, during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Axalta presents the Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway on June 11, 2017 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Chris Trotman\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"

Ryan Blaney, driver of the #21 Motorcraft\/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford, leads a pack of cars during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Axalta presents the Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway on June 11, 2017 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jeff Zelevansky\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"

Ryan Blaney drives the #21 Motorcraft\/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Axalta presents the Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway on June 11, 2017 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Chris Trotman\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"

Ryan Blaney, driver of the #21 Motorcraft\/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford, affixes the winner\u0092s decal to his car in Victory Lane after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Axalta presents the Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway on June 11, 2017 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jerry Markland\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"

Ryan Blaney, driver of the #21 Motorcraft\/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford, poses with the Monster Girls in Victory Lane after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Axalta presents the Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway on June 11, 2017 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jerry Markland\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service LONG POND, Pa. \u2014 Dogged by Kevin Harvick for the final eight laps of Sunday\u2019s Axalta presents the Pocono 400, Ryan Blaney held off the 2014 series champion in a breathtaking battle to claim the first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory of his career. After a restart on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10527,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[16,252,435],"class_list":["post-10511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-nascar","tag-pocono-raceway","tag-ryan-blaney"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/MENCS_Pocono_Trophy_061117.jpg?fit=4166%2C2730","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-2Jx","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10511"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10533,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10511\/revisions\/10533"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}