Ryan Blaney conquers chaos Straight Talk 500 at Phoenix Raceway

AVONDALE – Cautions breed cautions.

The old racing saying held true on Sunday afternoon during the closing stage of the Straight Talk 500 at Phoenix Raceway, with the caution lights illuminating frequently. In the final stage, no green-flag run lasted longer than 23 laps. 

All of those disruptions introduced a bit of chaos into the race, with differing pit strategies shuffling different drivers to the front, interrupting the lead of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell after he had dominated the middle of the race.

After a couple of those shuffles, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs and Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney were in the lead after taking two tires on a yellow-flag pit stop with just over 20 laps to go; with Bell in ninth. After a quick caution, Blaney quickly passed Gibbs and held off a hard-charging Bell to win the Straight Talk 500.

“I think it really benefited us to do two (tires) at the end because we saw how good a handful of those guys (performed) who did two earlier,” Blaney said. “So, it gave us some more confidence.”

Blaney also won the 2025 fall race on a late-race restart, marking his second consecutive Cup Series victory at the track dating back to last season’s finale, and his first win of the 2026 season. 

“It was pretty easy for us, kind of being behind, to choose to do two tires there,” Blaney’s crew chief, Jonathan Hassler said. “Our bed was kind of made, and fortunately, it all worked out.”

A good portion of the race chaos was due to tire issues. The race had a total of 10 in its record-tying 12 cautions, including the final caution where Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon cut his tire. None of the tire failures came in the 60-lap stage one.

Blaney won stage one and was a contender until a yellow-flag stop during the Stage One break where the pit crew did not get one of his wheels tightened. They re-serviced the car under the yellow flag conditions, moving the team to the back of the field.

This is Blaney’s 18th career win and Penske’s 154th win in the NASCAR Cup Series. He led 28 laps en route to victory and is now second in the points.

Bell led 176 laps and finished second. He had a two-race win streak in the prior spring races at Phoenix. Bell sits sixth in points.

“(Crew chief) Adam (Stevens)  made the call for four tires, and I was in total agreeance,” Bell said. “I’m like ‘Yeah, absolutely, I’ll be able to get back up through there’”

Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson finished third, the top Chevrolet. The defending champion had a quiet race and did not lead a lap. He moved up to 10th in the points.

Gibbs faded to fourth to finish the race after leading 14 laps. He has yet to post his first Cup Series win, but was still pleased with the result

“It was great, that’s important for our organization,” Gibbs said. “We’re working with the right people.”

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five. The three Gibbs Toyotas that finished the race (Chase Briscoe had a tire go down early) all finished in the top five, and six Toyotas finished in the top 10.

23XI’s Tyler Reddick’s three-race win streak ended with an eighth-place finish. Reddick still leads the points by 60.

The other Team Penske drivers, Joey Logano and Austin Cindric, were taken out in two of the crashes late in the race. Logano had a fast car, leading 73 laps and had the fastest lap of the race. Logano and Kaulig Racing’s A.J. Allmendinger came together at lap 254.

“Everyone ran out of space, and we got the wrong end of it,” Logano said. “Not the greatest of days.”

Cindric’s race ended prematurely when Logano and Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain came together on a restart on lap 216, collecting Cindric and a few others.

Team owner Roger Penske also owns the IndyCar series. 

With Blaney’s win, Team Penske swept the weekend with Josef Newgarden winning the IndyCar race on Saturday. They are the only team that fields cars in both series. This was the first time a race team won a NASCAR race and an IndyCar race at the same track on the same weekend. Team Penske also won both poles.

The opportunity to sweep a NASCAR/IndyCar doubleheader does not come often. This was the first time a doubleheader has happened at Phoenix Raceway. Both series have run at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the past.

“Josef (Newgarden) put the pressure on us yesterday, and he let us know that at our Penske dinner last night,” Blaney said. “He said, ‘This weekend is going to be absolutely ruined if you guys don’t do it on Sunday.’

“There’s like a little more internal pressure because you don’t want to be the guys that don’t finish out the whole weekend for RP (Roger Penske).”

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