Ross Chastain wins the last race of 2023, giving Ryan Blaney the inaugural NASCAR Cup title.
Family history: Ryan Blaney’s father, Dave Blaney, grandpa, Lou Blaney, or uncle, Dale Blaney, have all had long and successful careers in motorsports.
Dave Blaney raced in 473 Cup races over 17 seasons and won the World of Outlaws championship. His brother Dale won a sprint car championship, and their father Lou won several Midwest titles.
But Ryan Blaney is currently holding a NASCAR Cup Series title, which none of his racing relatives have ever done.
Blaney may have come in second place to Ross Chastain in the season finale at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday, but he won the most important prize: he won his first Cup title that age 29 by beating all three championship hopefuls in a 312-lap shootout.
Ross Chastain won his second race of the year at Phoenix Raceway, and Ryan Blaney beat Kyle Larson and William Byron in the last few laps to take the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series championship. With a second-place finish, Blaney won his first Cup title.
Blaney’s championship has his first in seven full-time Cup seasons. It is also Team Penske’s second straight Cup title and the first NASCAR victory for the Blaney racing family from Ohio.
Blaney put on a show on the last run of the day, taking the championship slot from Larson with 20 laps to go as well as never looking back, even though he came off pit road third of the three Championship 4 drivers who were still there.
Larson finished third as well as Byron finished fourth, giving them second and third place in the championship standings, respectively.
Christopher Bell finished fourth within the championship following crashing in the middle of the race because his brake rotor broke.
He beat Kyle Larson, William Byron, as well as Christopher Bell to win his first Championship 4 title after coming in second place in three straight races at the one-mile track. This was the last race in the third generation.
Blaney said, “I’m so proud of my team.” “What an amazing year and playoffs for us. That’s so cool that Mr. Penske won back-to-back Cup titles. I got upset in the car because my family was here and I had won my first Cup. I’m not an easily moved person.
The 2023 title for Blaney was Team Penske’s fourth win. They’ve all come in the last 12 seasons.
But this was the very first time since joining the sport in 1972 that the well-known company owned by Roger Penske won two races in a row.
Roger Penske, owner of the Penske Racing team, said, “We’ve had a lot of championships, but I’ve never seen racing this good in NASCAR before.” “Back-to-back shows how strong our organization is.”
“In the middle of the season, we weren’t that good.” But engineer Jonathan Hassler, the crew chief, and Ford helped us get progressively better.
“That’s why I think we’re here,” she said. We love having a race. We love being stressed out. We also like being able to sit here and say, “We’re champions.”
After having a tough regular season full of speed but contradictions, Blaney stepped up when it meant the most.
He won two races and came in second two times in his last six playoff races, giving the 29-year-old the momentum as well as confidence his needed to beat the 2021 winner.
With less than 40 laps to go, the last caution flew, and Larson’s No. 5 team did a great job on the last pit stop for the day. They left pit road in front of Blaney and Byron, having been behind them before they were serviced.
The driver of the No. 12 Ford won second place in the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series Championship race, giving Team Penske a second straight title in NASCAR’s top series and giving Ford a clean sweep for Championship Weekend at Phoenix Raceway.
On Sunday, Blaney won his first Cup title by pulling ahead of Kyle Larson and William Byron on a 31-lap green-flag run to the finish. At the same time, Ross Chastain won his second race of the season.