On a day where fate did everything in its power to keep Ryan Blaney and the No. 12 Team Penske team out of victory lane, Blaney took the lead from Ty Gibbs late in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Straight Talk Wireless 500 at Phoenix Raceway and held off Christopher Bell to score his first win of 2026 and the 18th of his Cup Series career.
Gibbs led Kyle Larson after the final caution flag came out with 19 laps to go, but Blaney passed Gibbs and held off a hard-charging Bell in the closing laps despite Bell’s tire advantage.
Bell swept the stages on Sunday but came up one spot shy of a third straight win in the Phoenix spring race.
Blaney had two loose wheels, multiple slow pit stops and multiple poor restarts throughout Sunday’s race, but passed a total of 49 cars and overcame all adversity to claim the checkered flag.
“Just perseverance,” Blaney told Fox Sports. “Everybody on the 12 group persevered all day. We had a couple mistakes that we learned from and got better. Came from the back a couple of times. Honestly, the 20 was the best car. [Crew chief] Jonathan [Hassler] made a great call.”
Notable results
Bell, Larson, Gibbs and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five, with Bubba Wallace, William Byron, Tyler Reddick, Michael McDowell and Erik Jones completing the top 10.
Other notable finishers include Shane van Gisbergen in 11th, Brad Keselowski in 15th, Kyle Busch in 17th, Carson Hocevar in 20th and Chase Elliott in 23rd.
Polesitter Joey Logano finished 31st after a late crash.