NASCAR: Ryan Blaney leads the last 44 laps to win at Pocono

Ryan Blaney cruised to his second win of the season on Sunday at Pocono.

Blaney wasn’t challenged over the final green-flag run of the race following a lap 132 caution for Ty Gibbs’ blown engine. Blaney took the lead for good on lap 117 of the 160-lap race and drove away from Denny Hamlin and Alex Bowman over the final phase.

The 2023 Cup Series champion got his first win of the season in June at Iowa and Sunday’s victory is the second of his career at Pocono. He got the first win of his career in 2017 at the 2.5-mile track while driving for Wood Brothers Racing.

This win was the 12th of Blaney’s career.

Blaney never led until lap 117 and his turn at the front was much like it was for everyone else throughout the race. Clean air seemed paramount; it was hard for drivers to make passes for the lead. The lead was traded on pit road and through various pit strategies vs. on-track passing.

Hamlin passed Bowman for second with seven laps to go, while William Byron was fourth and Joey Logano was fifth.

The strategies that jumbled the field throughout the first two stages of the race disappeared in the final stage. The caution on lap 114 for Todd Gilliland’s apparent brake failure brought everyone to pit road and Blaney inherited the lead following a speeding penalty for Kyle Larson and others. After that, three more cautions happened in the final stage before the final run to the finish.