Throughout the 2026 season, Ryan Blaney has carried the Ford banner, and he flew it high in EchoPark Speedway’s Quaker State 400, dominating the event to give Ford its 750th NASCAR Cup Series victory in a three-hour rain-delayed race that ended in overtime shortly before 2 a.m. Monday.
In gaining his second victory this year and the 19th of his Cup career, Blaney led 14 times for 171 of the 263 laps. That’s the most laps led by a driver in a drafting-style race since Richard Petty led 184 of the 200 laps in the 1964 Daytona 500. Team Penske is now tied for second for the most wins on a drafting-style track and tied for the most victories in the Next Gen era.
“That’s cool,” Michael Nelson, Team Penske’s NASCAR program president and vice president of operations, said about the statistic. “Really takes a lot of teamwork.”
Blaney dominated the weekend from qualifying to the checkered flag. He earned the pole and then swept the Stages before receiving the winning shove by Christopher Bell as Blaney, Carson Hocevar, and Bubba Wallace raced three-wide to the checkered flag. Wallace was initially flagged as the runner-up to Blaney, but a review of the final lap showed Wallace went below the double line on the backstretch. That dropped him to 29th, the last car on the lead lap.
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At one point late in the race, Blaney brushed the outside wall, but crew chief Jonathan Hassler said they weren’t concerned about leaving him on the track after the incident. They saw photos and knew there wasn’t any damage to the car. “There was a lot of wall residue in the wheels,” Blaney said. “That caused the vibration.”
Due to a rainstorm, the race was conducted in two parts consisting of different track conditions. Before NASCAR had to go into a lightning hold, 109 laps were completed, but then came the rain and a three-hour-nine-minute delay. The race resumed shortly before 11 p.m. ET with Blaney leading.
“The first Stage of the race was definitely kind of like something we haven’t seen before,” Blaney said. “Pretty warm outside, place is getting worn out. Strung out a lot. Guys were having their hands full back in the pack. They couldn’t really stay with the lead pack.
“The rain came. Cooled everything off. Track temp went down; air temp went down. When we went back racing after the rain delay, the track had a ton more grip in it. More of a traditional healthy race, everyone packed up, cars driving a little bit better. That was the unique shift in the race.”
With the laps winding down, Blaney, Carson Hocevar, Wallace, Bell, and Tyler Reddick were constantly dicing for position; however, Blaney’s car was superior.
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Ryan Blaney (#12) races with Bubba Wallace.
“My car was incredibly fast leading,” Blaney said. “I could defend moves without having to throw low-percentage blocks. Some moves are kind of unbeatable to defend as the leader. I would just let people get to my inside. If they passed me, great, I think I can probably develop a run to get them back.
“Might not have been the best handling car out there. The 23 (Wallace), the 45 (Reddick), the 20 (Bell), those cars handled really good to where they could be super aggressive in making moves. Now, they weren’t as fast leading the race. That was kind of a fun dynamic of my car is really fast, handles a little worse than theirs.
“I thought we were well-balanced with having speed and good-enough handling where I could manage where I needed to, take runs where I needed to, be able to clear guys, then go back to managing the lanes.”
The overtime charge was set up by a six-car accident on lap 255 of the scheduled 260-lap race. For the restart, Blaney chose the inside with Wallace, Bell, Ty Gibbs, and Erik Jones lining up behind him.
“Bubba and I got hooked up on the bottom” Blaney said in explaining the last lap. “They got bottom of (turn) three with Shane (van Gisbergen). I think the 20 (Bell) and Bubba, both of us kind of broke clear. Carson (Hocevar) was way out there. We had a massive run on him; kind of picked whatever lane was available. I didn’t want to kind of get jammed up on the bottom. I just tried to get to his right rear and was able to do that.
“Those runs are massive. If you got two guys hooked up coming at you fast, they’re hard to block. He did a good job not making a foolish block. He picked his lane and stayed there.”
Blaney’s victory allowed him to close within 65 points of standings leader Denny Hamlin. Reddick, who is second, narrowed his deficit to 24 points with his eighth-place finish. Hamlin placed 12th and was eliminated from the In-Season Challenge by Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Bell, who finished second.
A North Carolina native, Deb Williams is an award-winning motorsports journalist who is in her fourth decade covering auto racing. In addition to covering the sport for United Press International, she has written motorsports articles for several newspapers, magazines and websites including espnW.com, USA Today, and The Charlotte Observer. Her awards include the American Motorsports Media Award of Excellence, two-time National Motorsports Press Association writer of the year, and two-time recipient of the Russ Catlin award. She also has won an award in the North Carolina Press Association’s sports feature category. During her career, Deb has been managing editor of GT Motorsports magazine and was with Winston Cup Scene and NASCAR Winston Cup Scene for 18 years, serving as the publication’s editor for 10 years. In 2024 she was inducted into the NMPA Hall of Fame.