With his win Sunday in the Straight Talk Wireless 500 at Phoenix Raceway, Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney tied five drivers on the NASCAR Cup Series wins list.
Blaney’s 18th-career victory in the series ties him with 1986 Daytona 500 champion, two-time Coca-Cola 600 champion Neil Bonnett, 2026 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Harry Gant, three-time Coca-Cola 600 champion Kasey Kahne, and 2008 Daytona 500 champion Ryan Newman.
All of the drivers are tied for 49th all-time.
Photo: Dominic Aragon/TRE
“It’s neat,” Blaney said to The Racing Experts. “I didn’t know that, that I tied those guys. Big fan of those guys.
“Obviously Neil Bonnett, I got to know a lot about him when I ran for the Wood Brothers. Eddie and Len had a lot of amazing stories with Neil.”
Blaney shared the NASCAR Cup Series racetrack with Kahne and Newman.
Photo by Erick Messer/TRE
“Obviously I grew up a huge Kasey Kahne fan,” Blaney said. “I got to race with Kasey for a long time and loved him in the 9 days, things like that.
“Just special to be part of the group of those guys with Cup wins. Just happy to be part of a group like that. It means a lot.”
Directly ahead of Blaney on the wins list include Davey Allison, Buddy Baker, Greg Biffle, Fonty Flock — all with 19 wins.
The next race for the series is Sunday, March 15, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Dominic Aragon is currently the editor-in-chief for The Racing Experts.
From Grants, New Mexico, USA, Aragon started watching NASCAR in 2004 and has been covering the sport since 2009. Aragon is a 2012 graduate of Grants High School and a May 2016 graduate of the University of New Mexico with a B.A. in Mass Communications & Journalism. Aragon has worked in local and national media, as a musician, and an educator. He is co-author of the 2024 book “All of It: Daytona 500 Champion Tells the Rest of the Story” with racer Geoff Bodine.
Aragon, his wife Feliz, and son Christopher currently reside in Grants, New Mexico, USA.
You can reach Dominic at daragon@theracingexperts.net.