Blaney Wins Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte to End Winless Drought
U.S. News & World Report CONCORD, N.C. (AP) Jumping into the crowd to celebrate a big race victory appears to have become a Team Penske thing.
Ryan Blaney held off William Byron to win the rescheduled Coca-Cola 600 on Monday at Charlotte Speedway, giving team owner Roger Penske a sweep of the Memorial Day weekends top races in the United States.
Josef Newgarden won a record-extending 19th Indianapolis 500 on Sunday for Team Penske. Like Newgarden, Blaney jumped out of his car and climbed into the crowd to celebrate the win with fans.
A few moments later, he tried to hold back tears with the weight of 59-race winless streak lifted from his shoulders.
You start to get to feel like you cant win anymore, Blaney said. We hadnt won in awhile and that can get hard. I want to thank the 12 (team) for believing in me.
Blaney took the lead from Byron on a restart and led the final 26 laps to win his first Cup Series race since the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona in August of 2021.
Byron finished second, followed by Martin Truex Jr., Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick.
