Blaney's first career Cup win came at Pocono in 2017 when he was 23 years old. Now, at age 30, Blaney is a veteran NASCAR racer and the reigning series champion .
"So cool to win here again," Blaney said in his post-race interview with NBC. "I won here seven years ago for my first Cup win, so it's awesome to be back. The crowd, you guys were amazing. Thank you for being here all weekend."
"You love tracks that have special meaning to you, places where you get your first win and things like that," Blaney continued, "so this place means so much to me."
Blaney took control of the 160-lap race on a restart with 40 laps remaining and kept the lead despite multiple restarts. The No. 12 Team Penske crew gave Blaney great track position to start Stage 3, choosing to call him to pit road a few laps before the end of the second segment and forgo stage points. That strategy move allowed Blaney to begin the third stage on the front row alongside Chris Buescher and take control of the race.
"It was nice to stick to the plan today and our plan was to have track position at the end," Blaney said. "I knew our car was fast enough."
For the first four months of the season, Blaney could not find victory lane – "I feel like we honestly had a couple races slip away from us which I thought we had a good shot at winning," he said Sunday – but his luck began to turn last month at Iowa Speedway, with a dominating victory on June 16. And the defending champ said, "things are just kind of falling into place for us.
"I definitely feel like we're in a better spot at this time this year than we were last year," he said. "I feel like our speed is better. Our execution is great. We are doing everything as the 12 group the best that we can."
The 12 team's best resulted in a championship last season, and with just five races to go before the 2024 playoffs begin, Blaney is in prime position to defend his title.
Below the photo, see results and all the highlights from Sunday's race:
Ryan Blaney scored his second career win at Pocono Raceway on Sunday. Matthew O'Haren, Matthew O'Haren-USA TODAY Sports
Ryan Blaney pulled away from Alex Bowman on restart with 22 laps to go and held off Denny Hamlin in the final seven laps to win the The Great American Getaway 400 Sunday at Pocono Raceway.
With fuel and water leaking out of No. 54 Toyota, pole sitter Ty Gibbs brought out the eighth caution of the day, following a restart on Lap 131. NASCAR officials saw the leak on the track and threw the yellow flag as Gibbs brought his car to a stop. Gibbs was forced to exit the race with an expired engine.
Ryan Blaney and Alex Bowman, who restarted on the front row, and remain the leaders.
Immediately following a restart on Lap 127, John Nemechek came up the track and knocked into Zane Smith, who contacted Michael McDowell as the cars were racing three-wide in Turn 1. Nemechek and Smith both spun and hit the inside wall, bringing out another caution.
Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, William Byron Denny Hamlin make up the first two rows and will lead the field to the next restart with 29 laps remaining in the race.
Following a restart on Lap 121, Kyle Busch was contacted from behind by Corey LaJoie, triggering a multi-car wreck coming out of the front stretch . Busch spun and slid through the grass in Turn 1 before sliding back onto the track and hitting Ryan Preece's No. 41 Ford and then the outside wall. Austin Cindric, AJ Allmendinger, Harrison Burton, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Carson Hocevar got caught up in the wreck.
Kyle Busch, who was already having a rough year, exited his damaged car after it finally came to a stop, throwing his gloves out the window. His No. 8 Richard Childress Racing was towed off the track, while Busch took a ride to the infield care center, ending his day.
Todd Gilliland, running in 25th place, brought out the caution on Lap 116 after a mechanical failure with the right front of his No. 38 Ford. Gilliland hit the wall in Turn 1 as his right front tire went down.
With 44 laps remaining in the race, the vast majority of the field chose to come down pit road to completely fill up their gas tank to make it to the end. Some teams chose to only change two tires, while others chose four.
Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Ty Gibbs and Daniel Suarez were caught speeding on pit road and were forced to come back down pit road and restart at the back of the field.
Chris Buescher took the lead as Stage 3 began, surging to a lead of more than a second over Ryan Blaney, with Martin Truex Jr. in third, less than three seconds back. All three drivers had refueled before the end of Stage 2 and jumped to the front of the field when most other drivers came down pit road at the end of the segment.
Denny Hamlin cruised to a win in the second stage of The Great American Getaway 400 over Chase Elliott. Hamin, who has three victories this season, has won seven career NASCAR Cup Series races at the "Tricky Triangle," but this was his first stage win. Elliott, who is second in the points standings, easily finished second in the stage.
Prior to the end of the stage, Ryan Blaney, who was running third, and Martin Truex Jr., who was fourth, and Chris Buescher, who was sixth, hit pit road to take maximum fuel and tires. Because they hit pit road early, they gave up any stage points they could have won in the second segment.
Here are the Top 10 drivers of Stage 2:
Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford
William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club
Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford
Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota
Following the end of the stage, all of the leaders took fuel and four tires for the restart of Stage 3.
Denny Hamlin, who took the lead on Lap 67, has built a five-second lead over Chase Elliott with eight laps remaining in the second stage. Ryan Blaey is another seven seconds back, with Martin Truex and Brad Keselowski battling for fourth. Some drivers, including Josh Berry and Ty Gibbs, hit pit road earlier in the stage to refuel and put on new tires.
Stewart-Haas Racing driver Josh Berry took the lead on Lap 59 following a restart, but he is being chased down by seven-time Pocono winner Denny Hamlin, who changed tires and refueled during the most recent pit stop. Hamlin's No. 11 Toyota has fresher tires than Berry, whose No. 4 Ford last changed tires on Lap 32.
Ross Chastain brought out the caution on Lap 53 after his No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet crashed hard into the Turn 3 wall. Chastain, who was running 21st at the time, said he lost steering before his right front tire went down, leading to a spin that sent his car slamming into the wall with major damage.
Chastain was able to coast his car back to pit road but the team determined there was too much damage to repair the car and get him back on track. Chastain became the second driver, following Noah Gragson, to have his race end early.
With the yellow flag out, many cars decided to take fuel and tires to finish the stage. A handful of cars stayed out on the track, including pole winner Ty Gibbs, Austin Cindric andd Josh Berry.
After the caution flag waved to end the opening stage, the first six drivers hit pit road for fuel and tires, handing the front row to the Fords of Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski.
Keselowski quickly took the lead as Logano drifted way up the race track and fell all the way back outside the Top 10. Erik Jones moved up to second, Christopher Bell third and Chris Buescher fourth.
Martin Truex Jr., who took the lead on Lap 18, won the 30-lap opening stage Sunday at Pocono Raceway. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver, who has announced this will be his final season as a full-time Cup Series driver, is winless this season but is currently ranked fifth in points.
Denny Hamlin, the all-time wins leader at Pocono finished second behind his JGR teammate. Hamlin is seeking his eighth career win at the "Tricky Triangle" and his fourth victory of the season.
Here are the top 10 drivers in Stage 1:
Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota
William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Martin Truex Jr. took the lead after the restart on Lap 18, following Noah Gragson's crash. Truex is still seeking his first victory of 2024, but the 2017 Cup Series champion has won twice at Pocono (in 2015 and 2018). Truex's Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin went with him and slided into second, as JGR's Ty Gibbs, who had led the first 17 laps, dropped to fifth. Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney and William Byron round out the top five.
Noah Gragson brought out the first caution on Lap 14 of 160 when his No. 10 Ford got loose in Turn 1, spinning and crashing hard into the wall backside first. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver started 25th but his day ended early with the crash as a truck towed his damaged car from the track, while Gragson took a ride to the infield care center.
The yellow brought many cars to pit road for fuel and tires, but the top 10 drivers all stayed out on the track.
The Great American Getaway 400 has officially begun with the starter waving the green flag at 2:49 p.m. ET. Ty Gibbs and William Byron started on the front row for the 160-lap race.
Kyle Busch was already having a bad year – winless through the first 20 races in 2024 – but things went from bad to worse for the Richard Childress Racing driver when his No. 8 Chevrolet started leaking oil while sitting on the grid, according to Fox Sports' Bob Pockrass . The team pushed the car back to the garage to replace the oil line, but they had to take the entire underbody off to replace it.
The crew scrambled to make the fixes, but eventually pushed the car back to pit road. Because of the repairs, Busch has to drop to the rear of the field before the start of the race. The two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, who has four career wins at Pocono, qualified 24th on Saturday.
Also dropping to the rear: Corey LaJoie, whose No. 7 Chevrolet needed suspension repairs after qualifying, per Pockrass .
What time does Sunday’s NASCAR race at Pocono start?
The Great American Getaway 400 starts at 2:30 p.m. ET at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania.
What TV channel is Sunday’s NASCAR race at Pocono on?
USA Network is broadcasting The Great American Getaway 400 and will have a pre-race show at 2 p.m. ET.
Will there be a live stream of Sunday’s NASCAR race at Pocono?
The Great American Getaway 400 can be live streamed on the NBCSports website and the NBC Sports app. The race is also available to stream on Fubo .
Ty Gibbs will start on the pole for The Great American Getaway 400 after the Joe Gibbs Racing driver qualified first on Saturday. Hendrick Motor Sports driver William Byron, who qualified second, will also start on the front row. This marks the second consecutive week that Gibbs has qualified for the front row, following last week’s race on the streets of Chicago, where he started second.
Expect a mix of clouds and sunshine today at Pocono Raceway. The AccuWeather forecast calls for mostly cloudy conditions with a 70% chance of precipitation, and possibly a thunderstorm.
Look for a high temperature of 85 degrees. Winds will be out of the west at 7 mph, gusting to 16 mph.
Pocono Raceway, known as the “Tricky Triangle,” is one of the most unique ovals in NASCAR because unlike other tracks in the series it has just three turns instead of four, and each of the three has a different degree of banking. The 2.5-mile tri-oval also features the longest front stretch in the series at 3,740 feet.
The Great American Getaway 400 is 160 laps around the 2.5-mile track for a total of 400 miles. The race will feature three segments (laps per stage) – Stage 1: 30 laps; Stage 2: 65 laps; Stage 3: 65 laps.
Six races remain in the regular season, including Sunday’s race at Pocono Raceway, before the 16-driver NASCAR Cup Series playoffs begin on Sept. 11. A regular-season win virtually locks up a playoff berth, but the possibility still remains that there could be more race winners than available playoff spots since 12 drivers have at least one victory this season.
2024 winners (points in parentheses): Kyle Larson 3 (671); Denny Hamlin 3 (629); William Byron 3 (599); Christopher Bell 3 (586); Chase Elliott 1 (660); Tyler Reddick 1 (648); Ryan Blaney 1 (587); Brad Keselowski 1 (558); Alex Bowman 1 (553); Joey Logano 1 (484); Daniel Suarez 1 (410); Austin Cindric 1 (389).
Following next Sunday’s race, NASCAR will take two weekends off during the 2024 Paris Olympics. Here are the five races that conclude the regular season (all times ET):
Sunday, July 21: At Indianapolis Motor Speedway, 2:30 p.m. (NBC)
Sunday, Aug. 11: At Richmond Raceway, 6 p.m. (USA)
Sunday, Aug. 18: At Michigan International Speedway, 2:30 p.m. (USA)
Saturday, Aug. 24: At Daytona International Speedway, 7:30 p.m. (NBC)
Sunday, Sept. 1: At Darlington Raceway, 6 p.m. (USA)
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