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Ryan Blaney Hits the Ground Running With Phoenix Win
March 9, 2026 | Edition #636 |
Hey, NASCAR Fans!
A new horsepower package and a return to Phoenix were seen as a test for most of the title contenders. And from the get-go, the Team Penske Fords set the tone for the race. They weren’t the quickest, yet Ryan Blaney and his team put on a masterclass against Christopher Bell.
However, there was more to the Straight Talk Wireless 500 race than just the battle for the win. So let’s unpack the whole story in this edition.
Stage 1: The Team Penske Fords controlled the first stage, and it was Ryan Blaney who leapfrogged his teammate Joey Logano to bag the win and earn good stage points.
Stage 2: A loose wheel for the No. 12 car and multiple flat tires broke the rhythm of the race. And this allowed Christopher Bell to secure the stage win.
Stage 3: It was a cat-and-mouse chase to decide the race winner. But a smart pit call decision, followed by some brilliant driving, sealed the win for Blaney and Team Penske.
Tyler Reddick and 23XI Racing were on a high after winning three races in a row, and they looked unstoppable. But the Penske Fords have always been strong at Phoenix, which put the limelight back on Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano. And they made sure they lived up to the billing.
Blaney’s charge up front was special as he had to deal with loose wheel issues with two bad pit stops. It brought back memories of last year, when the No. 12 team was dragged down due to silly errors. But Blaney remained focused and went back to work. In the final stage, he quickly found himself in the top 10, and then came the late-race decision.
A two-tire stop late in the race due to a caution allowed Blaney to jump positions and contend for the lead. Ty Gibbs in the No. 54 Camry was looking good all day, and a similar two-tire call led to a thrilling battle. With 11 laps to go, the Penske driver made his move. Coming off the dogleg, he went door-to-door with Gibbs and completed the pass to win. But the job was far from done.
Remember, Christopher Bell had an absolute rocket ship of a race car. But it seems like the Gibbs camp didn’t learn its lesson after last year’s championship race. Bell’s team opted for a four-tire call, and although he had enough speed to chase down the No. 12 car, he didn’t have enough laps to clinch the race win.
The gap between Blaney and Bell was 0.399 seconds as they came to the checkered flag. Check out the last-lap action from the race if you haven’t already.
This also marked a special win for Roger Penske on his team’s 60th anniversary. After Josef Newgarden’s win, Blaney’s victory saw Penske sweep the Phoenix race weekend. And this win by the No. 12 team might have kicked off their title run after last year’s disappointment.
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Phoenix Raceway is notorious for causing tire failures. It is not entirely the fault of the rubber or the track, but the limit at which the drivers are constantly pushing their machines. Sunday’s race was yet another example of how increased engine power and good tires can make a race an interesting watch. But it was a nightmare for those drivers who found themselves on the receiving end of tire failures.
Kyle Busch suffered not one but two tire failures in Stage 2. At a time when each and every race counts, the team wasn’t happy with Busch for how he managed his tires. “All we had to do was limp to the freaking caution. I'm trying to get him to conserve, take care of it. There's only so much I can do. I'm holding a headset, not a steering wheel,” a team member said. Placed 20th and outside the top 16 drivers, the No. 8 team has quite a job on its hands.
Chase Briscoe, who was among the contenders for the win, suffered a similar fate. He was running 3rd in Stage 2 when he missed his marks while exiting the corner and hit the wall with a flat tire. Disappointment and regret were clear in Briscoe's message on social media after another DNF to start his 2026 Cup Series season.
This was followed by a bizarre streak of tires going flat in the second stage after Noah Gragson brought out the caution. The likes of Michael McDowell, William Byron, Connor Zilisch, and Riley Herbst all had tire trouble during the caution and were forced to come down a closed pit road for repairs. Even the broadcasters in the FOX booth were surprised by the tire damage on display.
Interestingly, Goodyear had made a cheeky social media post about tire pressures before the race went green. But despite the warning, the drivers kept overusing their tires, which eventually hampered their results during the race.
Our weekly prediction challenge was just as exciting as the action on the 1-mile oval in Phoenix. So much so that we had our three wide photo finish moment this time around.
We had not two but three participants with a tie score. The margins of victory were in milliseconds, which made things even more interesting. But we do have our winner.
This week’s ultimate bragging rights go to: Lisa!
You take home a $25 Amazon gift card, while other notable finishers also deserve a spot on our weekly leaderboard.
We will return with our weekly challenge for this weekend for the Las Vegas race. So make sure you come prepared to stake your claim on the leaderboard.
Does This Win by Blaney Bring Him Back in the Contention for the 2026 Title Race? |
Christopher Bell:
The JGR driver led a race-high 176 of 312 laps and was the fastest driver on the track. But a late pit strategy, opting for four tires, didn’t work out well for this team. Despite the disappointment, Bell took positives from the race, and he couldn’t be mad after jumping 16 positions in the standings to qualify for the Chase. Check out his post-race interview here.
Kyle Larson:
The No. 5 team had it all wrong, set-up-wise, and fell back early in the race. His crew chief, Cliff Daniels, did his magic on the car, which allowed Larson to take advantage of the late-race cautions. It is fair to say that the No. 5 HMS Chevy was nowhere near close to the likes of Blaney and Bell, and that is a concern.
“This will probably be as bad as we’ve been at Phoenix, but we still come in third like we typically do here,” Larson said after the race.
Ty Gibbs:
It could’ve been a special win for Ty Gibbs had it not been for Ryan Blaney. Having qualified 14th and then being in contention, it was a big jump for the No. 54 team. With back-to-back top-five finishes and sitting inside the top 15 in the standings, Gibbs is heading in the right direction.
“I’ll just keep working at getting better and see what I can do better. The show was pretty cool. I had a lot of fun. It kind of sucks I didn’t win, but we had fun racing out there. It probably looked pretty cool,” Gibbs said after the race.
There were more reactions and interviews from pit road, including from your favorite driver. Catch all the major reactions after the race here.
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