Blaney Brings Down the House With All-Star Race Win

Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images for NASCAR

NASCAR

Ryan Blaney Takes First All-Star Race Win, $1 Million Bonus at Texas

FORT WORTH, Texas – It may have taken more than the 125 scheduled laps, but the best car left on track ended up in All-Star Race victory lane. After leading 84 laps and having to outlast an overtime finish, Ryan Blaney takes home the $1 million check from Texas Motor Speedway. This non-points event marks the 12 team’s first win since Daytona last August.

Drivers transferring over from the Open included Stage winners Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chris Buescher, Daniel Suarez, and fan vote winner Erik Jones.

Once the main event got underway, Kyle Busch truly went from high to low in a matter of moments. After winning Stage 1 handily from pole, the 18 was cruising out front early in Stage 2. However, Busch lost a tire while leading. As the 18 slowed, everyone behind him scattered trying to avoid the limping Toyota. Ross Chastain tried passing Busch on the inside but was not low enough, crashing into Busch and getting airborne from the contact. As Chastain’s car went towards the outside wall, the 1 clipped the 9 of Chase Elliott, taking three pre-race favorites out of contention.

Along with Kyle Larson’s earlier incident, perhaps the four best cars were all out of the All-Star Race before lap 50. After extended cleanup, Stage 2 would go to Austin Cindric.

With Joey Logano’s crew also winning the pit stop challenge, Team Penske positioned themselves nicely for Stage 3. This third segment went in favor of Ryan Blaney, meaning that the Penske trio would line up 1-2-3 for the 50-lap final Stage.

Even though Austin Cindric had prime track position to start the final stage, he did not maintain the lead. Ryan Blaney took command and never looked back. After a caution midway through the 50-lap dash, Blaney’s new challenger would be Denny Hamlin, who pitted for right side tires. With the top seven drivers staying out though, it took Hamlin a few laps to get up to second. Once the 11 got to the runner-up spot, his progress stalled out as Blaney’s lead only grew. The 12 appeared to have the win well in hand, until he didn’t…

Just feet shy of Blaney taking the checkered flag, a caution came out for the 47 pounding the wall. With the All-Star Race rule of a mandatory green flag finish, this put the race into overtime. There were a few tense moments from the 12 camp though, as Blaney took down his window net, thinking the race was over. Blaney was eventually able to haphazardly put the safety device back into position and continue.

On the restart, Cindric gave Blaney the push he needed to dispose of Hamlin for good. In his sixth attempt, Blaney took the All-Star Race victory.

“It was about to be real bad for us, I thought the race was over, everyone thought it was over,” Blaney said. “I already had my window net down. I do want to thank NASCAR for letting me kind of fix it, and not make us come down pit road. That was really tough, then having to do it all over again after trying to get that window net back up there. Great car, Johnathan Hassler and everyone on our 12 group did a great job. Can’t thank Menards, Ford, DEX Imaging, BodyArmor, Dent Wizard, and Advance Auto Parts enough, for everything they all do. This is cool. I know it’s not a points-winning race, but it’s still fun and the party’s going to be pretty big!”

Behind Blaney were Denny Hamlin, Austin Cindric, Joey Logano, and Open transfer driver Daniel Suarez. Alex Bowman, AJ Allmendinger, Chris Buescher, Brad Keselowski, and Christopher Bell rounded out the top 10.

Ryan Blaney marks the 27th different driver to win the All-Star Race, also giving Team Penske it’s fourth win. All four of Penske’s All-Star victories have also come at the hands of different drivers. Fords have also swept all non-points events in 2022, with wins in the Busch Clash, both Daytona Duels, and now the All-Star Race. Despite no points-paying win yet this year, Blaney does get to celebrate big with the $1 million check.

Ryan Blaney will have a great chance to earn his first points win of 2022 next week. Blaney will try and go back-to-back in the Coca-Cola 600 from Charlotte Motor Speedway. NASCAR’s longest race begins at 6:00 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. As another intermediate track, the 12 has great momentum heading into this crown jewel event.

Written by Peter Stratta

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Photo Credit to Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images for NASCAR