NASCAR race results: Ryan Blaney scores close Cup win at Michigan

The winning move for Ryan Blaney at Michigan wasn’t a pass, but a choice. With the top three cars of William Byron, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson looking relatively even on speed, Blaney took the inside lane to restart in the front row when the final green flag waved.

A big push from Kyle Busch on his bumper gave Blaney’s No. 12 Ford a boost, and he was able to hold off the fleet of Hendrick cars in the final laps Sunday at the two-mile oval in Michigan. He scored his second win of the NASCAR Cup season and his first career win at the track.

“That was cool, man,” Blaney said on NBCSN after handing the checkered flag to a fan in the grandstand. “I’m fired up.”

Blaney led only the final eight laps of the race, and credited both the lane choice and Busch with helping him snag the win. Byron finished in second place by a hair, 0.077 seconds behind the leader. Larson was third.

“We got better and better,” Blaney said. “Picked a good lane on the restart there and got the push.”

Multiple yellow flags flew in the final laps to bunch the field. With around 20 to go, NASCAR brought out a caution for light rain, which moved through quickly and forced leaders to choose whether to pit. The top 10 drivers stayed out with Byron leading Larson and Hamlin in the top three. Those at the front made it through the next three- and four-wide restarts cleanly, but a major wreck followed at the middle of the pack.

Tyler Reddick got loose, fell backwards into Joey Logano, who was hit from behind by Martin Truex Jr. to send Logano further spinning through the field and collecting multiple cars. Logano took his car to the garage, while Reddick got through the wreckage fairly unscathed only to spin out again when the race restarted with eight laps remaining.

Larson and Byron jockeyed for the second place, but they couldn’t get ahead of Blaney once he moved to first.

“Once you get put three-wide middle, it’s game over,” Byron said. “I gave up the lead trying to protect the top. Just didn’t have the loyalty there to kind of push me to the lead.”

Hamlin finished fifth behind Kurt Busch in fourth place. With a repeat winner, Kevin Harvick clinched a playoff spot while Reddick and Richard Childress Racing teammate Austin Dillon will battle for a postseason berth in the final race of the regular season next weekend at Daytona.

Early exit for Dillon

Dillon was a consistent presence in the top five over the first two stages. He finished third in the first stage, won by Chase Elliott, and sixth in the second stage, won by Kyle Busch, before disaster struck for the No. 3 team.

Dillon raced Brad Keselowski through the green-and-white checkered flag to close the second stage, with Dillon getting the advantage. In the seconds after they crossed the line, Dillon moved up the track as Keselowski moved down and the cars collected, totaling Dillon’s Chevrolet.

Keselowski immediately said on his radio that he “didn’t mean to wreck him,” but the damage was done.

“I’m an old man, but I can kick his ass,” team owner Richard Childress said on the No. 3 team’s radio after the incident about Keselowski.

After the race, Keselowski told reporters that he was “bummed” with the result — a ninth place finish at his hometown track where he’s still seeking a first win. Instead, his Penske teammate Blaney sealed the deal at the hometown track of the team’s Ford manufacturer.

“I wanted of course to get a win and I hate that I had that contact with the 3,” Keselowski said. “That really sucks for everybody. It really hurt our day and obviously ruined his. That was crappy. So it goes.”

Dillon, who said he felt like that was his best car, also took responsibility for the wreck.

“Just hate it,” Dillon said on NBCSN after exiting the care center. “I don’t know why it happened really. I thought I had a little room to come up and he just held me down there a little too long I guess.”

Prior to the race, Dillon was sitting 28 points behind his teammate Reddick, who held the final spot in the 16-driver cutoff for the postseason. With Reddick finishing 29th, that gap has only shrunk by a few points, with Reddick just 25 points ahead of Dillon as the series prepares to cap its regular season next Saturday (7 p.m. on NBC). Larson is looking to defend his 28-point lead over Hamlin to claim the regular season championship.

NASCAR race results

This story was originally published August 22, 2021 at 6:52 PM.

Alexandra Andrejev

The Charlotte Observer

NASCAR and Charlotte FC beat reporter Alex Andrejev joined The Observer in January 2020 following an internship at The Washington Post. She is a two-time APSE award winner for her NASCAR beat coverage and National Motorsports Press Association award winner. She is the host of McClatchy’s podcast “Payback” about women’s soccer. Support my work with a digital subscription