Ryan Blaney was physically spent after Sunday’s Cup Series championship race at Phoenix Raceway — wiped after trying to chase down and overtake his teammate.
The 2023 champion handed the torch back to Joey Logano when he couldn’t get there. Blaney could see Logano’s bumper, but there was no serious challenge for the lead in the final laps. The Team Penske drivers finished first and second in the race and the championship — the third straight for team owner Roger Penske.
“I was tired, man,” Blaney said. “I was driving hard and huffing and puffing and felt like I was going to pass out after the race. I was working hard trying to close the gap down. There were a lot of similarities to last week, and I just didn’t quite get there this week.”
Blaney restarted sixth when the race went green for the final time with 54 laps to go. He did not make up ground quickly and spent a lot of time having to battle Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson. It wasn’t until 35 laps to go when Blaney prevailed for third position.
Already, though, Logano was driving away. The No. 22 took the lead one lap after the restart. Blaney took the second position from William Byron, another championship contender, with 22 laps to go. There was a 2s deficit Blaney had to erase to get to Logano.
“Everybody put on defensive clinics today,” Blaney said. “Everybody I tried to pass. Everybody did, so props to them for that. They did a great job. It’s just what you have to do. I mean, [Larson] did it to me, [Byron] did it to me, [Logano] did it to me. It’s just what you’ve got to do if you’re struggling, and it just buys you time. It’s just part of the sport because it’s so powerful.
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“The defensive line is so powerful [with] dirty air. You have to do it if you have a faster car behind you coming down in these moments. I don’t blame them for doing it. Is it the funnest thing in the world? No, because I’ve lived that story many, many times. I had to work … to get by the No. 5, and I had to work … to get to the No. 24 and pass him, and I had to work my tail off to run Joey down from a long ways back. As I’m doing it, I’m thinking to myself, ‘I think I’m going to get there — get close — but I don’t know if I’m going to have anything to pass him. I can’t save because I’m never going to get there if I save.’
“Martinsville was a little bit different because I had more laps left. Here, I really just had to use my [expletive] up really hard to get close, and then I just didn’t really have anything left there, so it was a little bit of both. My tires were spent, and he did a good job of placing his car where he needed to be.”
The teammates were the class of the championship field. Blaney finished sixth in the first stage and won the second stage. He led a total of 12 laps and, at times, was in control of the championship. Logano won the first stage and finished second in the second stage.
Sunday’s run to the finish saw Blaney and Logano among a handful of drivers who pitted under the final caution. The field had already started a green flag pit cycle when the final caution occurred. Byron stayed out to inherit the lead, having pitted only one lap before the yellow.
Blaney and Logano restarted in the third row.
“I just got bottled up,” Blaney said. “I took sixth [because] I thought the top was probably the better row, personally, and got put in kind of a weird aero spot. A lot of guys washed up in front of me there through [Turns] 1 and 2, and Joey got clear, and then I only got to fourth. That was the outcome.
“Joey got to the lead pretty quickly with how the restart went, and it worked out for him. By the time I settled in, I was fourth and had to work my [tail] off to try to get by the No. 5 and the No. 24 and run Joey down, and then I had nothing left. Everything was spent on that car. … Yeah, just the restart, if I would have just been closer, if I would have come out second or so, I wouldn’t have had to work as hard and come from as far back and maybe would have had a little bit better shot.”