RYAN BLANEY PULLS OFF THRILLING NASCAR CUP SERIES VICTORY AT ATLANTA

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In a race that did not finish until early hours of Monday morning, Ryan Blaney put on a dominating performance in the NASCAR Cup Series at EchoPark Speedway.

The driver of the No. 12 led a race-high 171 of 263 laps and outdueled Carson Hocevar on the final lap to win the Quaker State 400 at the EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta. Blaney secured his second win of 2026, 19th career victory, and first triumph at Atlanta.

Christopher Bell finished second, followed by Hocevar third, Ty Gibbs in fourth, and Erik Jones wound out the top five.

Bubba Wallace initially finished the race runner-up, but was penalized for advancing his position below the yellow line down the backstretch on the final lap. Because of this, Wallace finished 29th. 

Blaney passes Hocevar on the final lap to win Atlanta

with six laps remaining.   

A multi-car crash involving Kyle Larson, Chase Briscoe, Riley Herbst, Austin Hill, and others set up an overtime restart.

Hocevar started up front for the restart and had his No. 77 machine in prime position to take the win as the field took the white flag.

The Spire Motorsports driver had built a gap on the rest of the field. However, a push from Wallace propelled Blaney past Hocevar. The two ran side-by-side, which then opened the door for Wallace to dive three-wide underneath.

With one final push from Bell up top, Blaney crossed the finish line first and scored the win.

The thrilling victory capped a dominant performance for the North Carolina native.

Rain delayed NASCAR’s finish by over three hours

Blaney started on the pole and led the field to the green flag. The 2023 Cup champion led all 60 laps of the opening stage en route to the victory. Tyler Reddick was second and Kyle Larson was third.

Blaney continued to lead for the bulk of the second stage, but swapped the lead with Kyle Larson. At the red flag on lap 108, Blaney was in command with Bubba Wallace second and Reddick third.

The rain delay lasted three hours and nine minutes as the cars did not get re-fired until just after 11:30 p.m. Eastern time. At 12:01 a.m. Eastern time, the race resumed on lap 123.

In the waning laps of the second stage, Blaney held off challenges from Wallace, Joey Logano, and Hocevar to complete the stage sweep. Reddick finished second in stage two, followed by Logano in third. 

Gibbs assumed the lead after a round of pit stops and was out front to start the final stage.

With just over 60 laps to go, A.J. Allmendinger’s single-car spin on the frontstretch brought out the fourth caution of the race.On the cycle of pit stops, Bell took over the lead, with Larson in second. 

The fifth caution came out with just under 30 laps remaining after Allmendinger slapped the outside retaining wall. 

With 23 laps to go, Wallace led the field back to green with Blaney alongside him. Blaney overtook Wallace and held the advantage with 19 laps remaining, when Larson spun through the infield grass and triggered the sixth caution.

With six races until The Chase, Denny Hamlin leads the points standings by 24 over Reddick.

- John Breeden

LARSON EDGES BUESCHER AT THE LINE AT KANSAS SPEEDWAY IN CLOSEST FINISH IN NASCAR CUP SERIES

AP Photo 

 KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Kyle Larson came roaring around the outside of Chris Buescher on the final lap at Kansas Speedway, banging doors with him all the way to the finish line, only to be told by his team over the radio that everything he had given was not quite enough.

It wasn't until Larson was in Turn 3 of the cool-down lap that he saw his spotter, Tyler Monn, dancing high above the track.

In the closest finish in NASCAR history, one that only became official with a grainy black-and-white photo at the line, the No. 5 car was declared the winner by a thousandth of a second — every bit as close as the Kentucky Derby a day earlier, and an even more dramatic finish than the three-at-the-line conclusion to the Cup Series race at Atlanta earlier this season.

“Had no clue if I won or not," Larson said, "but honestly didn't really care. I was like, ‘Man, that was frickin' awesome.'”

Not so awesome for Buescher's team, which had begun celebrating before the result became official. His crew chief, Scott Graves, asked to meet with NASCAR officials in their hauler. Shown the finish-line photo, he accepted the outcome.

“I don’t know what to say right now,” Buescher said, shaking his head while standing beside his No. 17 car. “I haven’t seen a replay other than just the picture, and I sure can’t see in that picture. That sucks to be that close.”

The edge-of-your-seat finish came after a caution for Kyle Busch's spin forced the green-white-checkered finish. Larson had pulled behind Buescher on the backstretch of the last lap, then came around him in the final corner. To the naked eye, Buescher looked as if he had edged ahead, and even Larson had started to congratulate his team on a strong second-place run.

A few minutes later, he was doing a celebratory burnout on the front stretch.

It was a brilliant start to a busy month of May for Larson, who will attempt to run the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day Memorial Day weekend. The win was his second of the season for Hendrick Motorsports, and it gave him a bit of retribution after finishing second to Denny Hamlin last week at Dover and in the spring race at Kansas a year ago.

Martin Truex Jr. finished fourth Sunday and Hamlin, who had the lead on the final restart, faded back to fifth place.

“Had a great view of the finish,” Hamlin said with a smile.

Making the finish an even bigger bummer for Buescher was the fact that he had overcome a big miscue midway through the race. He had just won the second stage and led the field to pit road when a crew member came over the wall early. The penalty sent him to the rear, and Buescher had to spend much of the final stage working his way back to the front.

Ultimately, Buescher's team opted for a different pit strategy than the other leaders. So did Hamlin's team, which had survived its own share of pit problems. And it might have worked out for both of them had the race finished under green.

Instead, the late caution forced the leaders to pit, and set up a finish that went down in NASCAR history.

“I mean, I'll always remember this, for sure," Larson said. "There's definitely wins that you can kind of get lost in the distance a little bit, but when you finish and have the closest finish in Cup Series history, I don't think you're ever going to forget about it, even if it gets broken someday. Great to be on this side of it.”

AP Photo 

BEST OF THE REST

Christopher Bell started on the pole but struggled to run up front all day in a race that began after a 3 1/2-hour rain delay. He finished sixth, and was followed by Alex Bowman and Kyle Busch, whose spin brought out the last caution. Noah Gragson and Michael McDowell joined Buescher in giving Ford, which has yet to win this season, three cars in the top 10.

YELLOW FLAGS

There were no cautions other than for stage breaks until Jimmie Johnson wrecked with 91 laps to go. The seven-time champion, back in the No. 84 for the second consecutive week, was hit from behind by Corey LaJoie after he had checked up.

“Just trying to set up for the corner, I got a little help from behind and just kind of hanging on from there,” Johnson said.

The yellow flags then came in quickly: Hamlin made contact with Austin Cindric, sending the No. 2 into a wreck that spun out Bubba Wallace and McDowell. Harrison Burton wrecked on the restart, then Joey Logano did on the next one.

ODDS AND ENDS

Corey Heim, who won the Truck Series race Saturday night, finished 22nd while subbing for Erik Jones in the No. 43 car for Legacy Motor Club. ... Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was 16th in his first race since signing a contract extension with JTG Daugherty Racing. He also did it after going for a wild ride in his sprint car Saturday night at nearby Lakeside Speedway. ... Gragson has had strong back-to-back weeks after finishing sixth at Dover. ... The series heads to Darlington next for its annual throwback weekend.

RYAN BLANEY EARNS 1ST CAREER NASCAR CHAMPIONSHIP AND GIVES ROGER PENSKE BACK-TO-BACK CUP TITLES

AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Ryan Blaney only had to beat Kyle Larson and William Byron to win his first NASCAR championship.

He needlessly added Ross Chastain to his list, too, racing him pointlessly hard in an attempt to win the race Sunday at Phoenix Raceway. When he couldn't pass Chastain, Blaney angrily ran into the back of his car.

It was a side of Blaney his team and competitors know very well.

The public? Not so much.

The soft-spoken third generation racer from Ohio used a pugnacious second-place run at Phoenix to win the Cup title in a drive that showcased a fire that apparently blazes inside the typically mild-mannered Blaney.