Ryan Blaney went back-to-back at Phoenix Raceway to give Team Penske back-to-back wins … in two different series.
Blaney’s win in the NASCAR Cup Series race came a day after Josef Newgarden’s Saturday’s IndyCar race at the track, allowing Team Penske to sweep what was billed as the Desert Double.
Blaney also won last year’s season finale at the track, although Kyle Larson finished that one in third to claim the NASCAR Cup Series championship under the old playoffs rules.
Larson was third again this time around, but it was Christopher Bell that almost caught Blaney in the closing laps.
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Bell led more than half of the race in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, but took four tires during the final caution period while others took two and lined up in eighth with 11 laps to go for the restart with Blaney behind Ty Gibbs and Kyle Larson in third.
Blaney needed two laps to get his No. 12 Ford to the front as Bell worked his way through traffic and moved into second a few laps later. He was able to close the gap to a half-second, but ran out of laps before he could get by. Blaney’s drive was even more impressive considering he had two loose wheel issues during the race that required extra time in the pits.
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“Everybody on the 12 group persevered all day, we had a couple of mistakes that, you know, we learned from and got better and had to come from the back a couple of times and, honestly, the 20 was the best car, but Jonathan [Blaney’s crew chief] made a good call to take two and we were able to get the lead and just hold him off,” Blaney said after the race.
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