Ryan Blaney overcame two early pit stop penalties that twice sent him to the rear of the field to win the Straight Talk Wireless 500 at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday, completing a rare cross-series sweep for Team Penske one day after Josef Newgarden won the IndyCar race at the same track.
Blaney, the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion, took the lead for good with 10 laps remaining in the No. 12 Team Penske Ford, holding off Christopher Bell, who led 176 of 312 laps, to win by .399 seconds. It was Blaney’s 18th career victory and second at Phoenix Raceway.
The afternoon demanded patience. A penalty for pitting outside his box was one of two pit stop issues that sent Blaney to the back of the field in the race’s early stages. He worked forward on both occasions and was in position to capitalize when crew chief Jonathan Hassler called him in for two fresh Goodyear tires on the final caution with 12 laps remaining. Blaney restarted on the second row, moved past Ty Gibbs with 10 laps to go, and held on.
“Just perseverance,” Blaney said of his afternoon. “I mean, everybody on the 12 group persevered all day. We had a couple mistakes that we learned from, got better, had to come from the back a couple times.
“Obviously, the 20 [Bell] was the best car. But Jonathan [Hassler, No. 12 crew chief] made a great call to take two [on last stop]. We were able to get the lead. Hold them off. I don’t know how many more laps I could have held them off.
“Really proud of everybody at Team Penske. We swept the weekend with [Josef] Newgarden winning yesterday (in the NTT IndyCar Series race), us winning today. Can’t wait to see Roger [Penske, team owner]. … Can’t say enough about the 12 guys for keeping their head down and doing what they do, and Jonathan again for making a good call at the end.”
Bell restarted eighth as the first car to take four tires on the final stop and had the pace to threaten, cutting into Blaney’s lead with each lap before falling short by .399 seconds. Bell and Blaney each won a stage on Sunday. His No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team moved from 24th in the standings before the race to sixth heading into Las Vegas.
“Ultimately, if we had more green flag laps, I think we could have made a run at him,” Bell said. “I don’t know. You win some, you lose some. This one stings, but on the positive side, I’m really proud of our entire team. It’s something to build on. It was a day that we needed. We got a lot of stage points, finished second – just bummed whenever they get away like that.”
Kyle Larson finished third for Hendrick Motorsports, with Bell’s JGR teammates Gibbs in fourth and Denny Hamlin in fifth. Bubba Wallace was sixth, William Byron seventh, and Reddick eighth. Michael McDowell and Erik Jones completed the top ten, with Shane Van Gisbergen recovering to 11th after several incidents.
Reddick’s three-race winning streak to open the season came to a close, but the 23XI Racing driver managed his day and left Phoenix in firm control of the championship.
“We kind of just hovered around fifth all day,” conceded Reddick, whose team co-owner Michael Jordan was again trackside in support of the organization’s record-setting 2026 season start.
“Looking at the board over here, scored the fourth most amount of points on the day,” he added. “That’s kind of what we need to keep doing all year to keep the lead that we have and try and hang on to it. Solid day. If we’re not going to win, these are the kind of days we need to have. Glad to get out of here with some points.”
Reddick leads Blaney by 60 points in the standings. Anthony Alfredo, filling in for Alex Bowman in the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, finished 33rd after being collected in a multi-car crash with under 100 laps remaining. The race featured 12 cautions, tying the track record, with eight leaders and 23 lead changes.
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway next Sunday for the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube, with race time at 4 p.m. ET on FS1.
