HAMPTON, Ga. — Ryan Blaney delivered a historic performance on Sunday night and Monday morning at Atlanta Motor Speedway while scoring his second win of the season.
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The Team Penske driver led 171 laps, the second-most in Cup Series history and the most in the Modern Era (228 races). He did so while starting from the pole position and sweeping the stage wins, helping him close the gap in the battle for the regular-season championship.
He also pulled off this feat after lightning and rain brought the race to a halt for three hours and nine minutes.
Christopher Bell finished second while Carson Hocevar, Ty Gibbs, and Erik Jones rounded out the top five. Bubba Wallace originally crossed the finish line inside the top three, but NASCAR penalized him for going below the double yellow line. He had to drop to a 29th-place finish.
WHAT A FINISH IN ATLANTA!! pic.twitter.com/KpYKIe4bzo
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 13, 2026
"You can't ask for a better weekend - sit on the pole, sweeps the stages, win the race," Blaney said. "That's a dream weekend right there. These guys are great. They brought a rocket ship and it was nice that we were able to close it out."
Blaney had the dominant car in the field, which he used to lead the first 64 laps at the mini-superspeedway. He then showed the No. 12 team's strength multiple times while battling for position with other drivers throughout the field.
The 2023 Cup Series champion lost the lead multiple times during the second and third stages, but he had the speed and ability to just pull out of line and pass other drivers. He did so using both the bottom and the top lanes of the 1.5-mile track.
Even contact with the wall did little to stop Blaney's dominance. He had a massive vibration, most likely from paint in the wheel, but he could still make the moves to the front of the pack.
"Yeah, we were able to get some pictures really quick, see that the damage wasn't too bad," crew chief Jonathan Hassler said after the race.
"Obviously we saw there was a little bit. Ryan felt like his steering wheel was rather straight. We didn't feel like we had any major tow issues.
"We looked at it, there were 30 cars on the lead lap, not a lot of laps left. Our chance to win was to stay out, take a little bit of a risk. Fortunately it worked out for us."
Blaney has now won the last six Cup Series races for Ford, dating back to Nashville Superspeedway on June 1, 2025. He has remained the overall consistent presence in the field while other drivers have dealt with long winless streaks.
