In a three-wide battle for the win, Ryan Blaney surged ahead in the final moments to win a marathon NASCAR Cup race at EchoPark Speedway. The victory was a special one, for two primary reasons.
With a helpful push from Christopher Bell in a Toyota, Blaney earned Ford its 750th NASCAR Cup win. Jimmy Florian secured the manufacturer its first victory at Dayton’s half-mile asphalt oval, all the way back in the summer of 1950. It was his one and only Cup win, and earned Florian the nickname ‘Shirtless’ because he won that race without wearing a shirt! It was a very hot day though, and they didn’t have cool suits in 1950…
Blaney is responsible for 19 of Ford’s 750 Cup wins, including Atlanta. Ned Jarrett holds the record for the ‘Blue Oval,’ with the recently passed NASCAR legend earning 43 victories as a Ford driver.
But the pure dominance of the victory also earned Blaney another spot in the record books. Despite the close nature of modern Atlanta, the Team Penske driver managed to lead 171 of 263 laps, which is about 65% of the race.
No driver in the modern era of NASCAR (1972 onward) has EVER led that many laps in a single drafting race, and we’re talking about 228 different races. In fairness, Daytona and Talladega also have fewer total laps, but it’s still wildly impressive. In the nine Cup races at ‘new’ Atlanta that preceded Blaney’s big win, only his Penske teammate got anywhere close to that, with Joey Logano leading 140 of 260 laps on his way to the win there in 2023.
The impressive showing by Blaney also ranks No. 2 all-time on drafting tracks, only eclipsed by Richard Petty’s 1964 Daytona 500 victory. That day, NASCAR’s ‘King’ led 184 of 200 laps, or 92% of the race. He also won by over a lap, while Blaney’s margin of victory was under a single tenth.
Additionally, Blaney was one fastest lap away from securing 76 points — the absolute maximum for a modern Cup race. Cody Ware denied him that, securing the bonus point for fastest lap while running at the back of the pack.
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