Two-Tire Stop Aids Blaney in Recovering from Loose Wheels for Phoenix Win

The pathway to Victory Lane for Ryan Blaney in Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 500 at Phoenix Raceway may not have been pretty – with two loose wheels, and a two-tire strategy call in the closing laps – but it got the job done for the No. 12 team.

Blaney, 32, captured his 18th NASCAR Cup Series victory on Sunday after holding off Christopher Bell on a late-race restart, defending on two tires, while Bell, the dominant driver all afternoon, looked to reclaim what should have been a sure-thing for his Joe Gibbs Racing team.

The flip-flop came from a switch-up with less than 25 laps remaining in Sunday’s event, as the field came down pit road to change tires after a caution for Austin Dillon blowing a right-front tire.

While Adam Stevens and Christopher Bell chose to take four tires, a call that would mire them back in eighth place for a late-race restart, Blaney and Jonathan Hassler chose to take the track position, changing only two right-side tires and coming out second.

With so few laps remaining, and another caution to follow immediately after the drop of the green flag, Blaney’s rebound from the rear of the field – twice – was complete, and the No. 12 Dent Wizard machine, which showed race-winning pace all day, was finally in position to take advantage.

Blaney had a frustrating time on pit road Sunday, as early in the race, his pit crew had two different stops where a wheel was loose – once requiring a second pit stop, and the other time requiring him to stop in the pit box of teammate Joey Logano.

So, to have a clean stop and get out in second place on the final pit stop was most definitely a sigh of relief for the driver of the No. 12.

“No, I mean, just perseverance,” said Blaney post-race. “I mean, everybody on the No. 12 group persevered all day. We had a couple of mistakes that we learned from, got better, and had to come from the back a couple of times. Obviously, the No. 20 was the best car. Jonathan [Hassler] made a great call to take two. We were able to get the lead and hold them off. I don’t know how many more laps I could have held them off. We were able to do that.”

The victory by Blaney completed the INDYCAR-NASCAR sweep for Team Penske, who won Saturday’s event with Josef Newgarden, plus both poles for the weekend’s events with David Malukas and Joey Logano.

Christopher Bell, using the full power of his four fresh tires, was able to close within a half-second of Blaney in the final laps of the race, but ultimately had to settle for second place after leading a race-high 176 laps.

Kyle Larson struggled with his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro all weekend long and had to recover from a speeding penalty on the first pit stop of the event, but finished in third.

Ty Gibbs, still searching for his first win in the NASCAR Cup Series, finished fourth after leading the race late, while Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-five. Bubba Wallace, William Byron, Tyler Reddick, Michael McDowell, and Erik Jones rounded out the top-10.

Shane Van Gisbergen had to rebound from two spins throughout the event, and did so splendidly, finishing 11th. Kyle Busch had similar issues, with three flat tires throughout the day, and somehow, rebounded to finish 17th.

The event itself featured lots of attrition, with only 27 drivers finishing Sunday's 312-lap contest from Phoenix Raceway, and only 25 finishing on the lead lap. Zane Smith, Connor Zilisch, Daniel Suarez, Joey Logano, Josh Berry, Anthony Alfredo, Austin Cindric, Cole Custer, Noah Gragson, and Chase Briscoe all had issues throughout the afternoon and were forced to retire from the event.

With an eighth-place finish on the day, Tyler Reddick was still able to hold the majority of his advantage in the point standings, with a 60-point lead over Phoenix race-winner Ryan Blaney. Bubba Wallace, Chase Elliott, and Shane Van Gisbergen rounded out the top-five in standings.

Next for the NASCAR Cup Series is the first trip of the season to a mile-and-a-half racetrack, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Coverage will take place next Sunday, March 15, at 4:00 PM ET on FS1, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).

Photo Credit: Matthew T. Thacker, NKP for Ford Racing