Ryan Blaney snapped a 59-race winless streak when he put the No. 12 NASCAR Ford Mustang in Victory Lane at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Monday, May 29th, 2023, and earned The Blue Oval its second race win of the 2023 Cup Series season.
Blaney’s No. 12 Mustang was the race car to beat for most of the night, and never strayed far from the front. He commanded the race for 163 of 400 laps, and held off a hard-charging No. 24 Chevy Camaro ZL1 driven by William Byron and the No. 19 Toyota TRD Camry of Martin Truex Jr. as the laps ticked down.
“I might shed a tear,” said Blaney after the race. “I just was able to get the lead, and that car was so good that I could kind of bide my time a little bit and then we were able to drive off. I was hoping no caution, just because you never know.”
He added, “I know we had the car to do it, but restarts can be crazy… You start to get to feel like you can’t win anymore when you don’t win in a while. It kind of gets hard. So just super thankful to the 12 guys for believing in me… It’s just so cool. What a weekend with [Penske Racing driver Joseph] Newgarden and Roger [Penske, team owner] winning at Indy and us winning the 600. I mean that’s just so cool. That kind of snaps our winless streak right there, and that’s even better.”
Meanwhile, Brad Keselowski’s No. 6 Mustang seemed strong in the early stages of the race, but a series of incidents relegated him to a 19th-place result. Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 NASCAR Ford, also had a rough go of things, finishing 21st after multiple incidents of his own.
There were 16 cautions for 83 laps during the Charlotte 600, which is NASCAR’s longest race, and the lead was swapped 31 times between 13 drivers.
| Finish | Start | Car Number | Driver | Team | Laps Run | Laps Led | Car |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | BodyArmor Cherry Lime Ford | 400 | 163 | Ford Mustang |
| 2 | 1 | 24 | William Byron | Liberty University Patriotic Chevrolet | 400 | 91 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 3 | 18 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Bass Pro Shops Toyota | 400 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 4 | 7 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | Dr Peper Strawberries & Cream Toyota | 400 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 5 | 15 | 45 | Tyler Reddick | Jordan Brand Toyota | 400 | 28 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 6 | 5 | 8 | Kyle Busch | Alsco Chevrolet | 400 | 1 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 7 | 10 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Kroger/Coca-Cola Chevrolet | 400 | 4 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 8 | 11 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Fastenal Ford | 400 | 12 | Ford Mustang |
| 9 | 33 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet | 400 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 10 | 29 | 38 | Zane Smith(i) | Boot Barn Ford | 400 | 3 | Ford Mustang |
| 11 | 2 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Mobil 1 Ford | 400 | 19 | Ford Mustang |
| 12 | 31 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Ally Patriotic Chevrolet | 400 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 13 | 22 | 41 | Ryan Preece | HaasTooling.com Ford | 400 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 14 | 27 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger | Action Industries Chevrolet | 400 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 15 | 16 | 31 | Justin Haley | LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet | 400 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 16 | 36 | 15 | JJ Yeley(i) | Patriot Mobile Ford | 400 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 17 | 25 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | AeroVanti Chevrolet | 400 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 18 | 13 | 21 | Harrison Burton | DEX Imaging Ford | 400 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 19 | 3 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | Castrol Edge Ford | 400 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 20 | 20 | 14 | Chase Briscoe | Mahindra Tractors Ford | 400 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 21 | 17 | 22 | Joey Logano | Shell Pennzoil Ford | 400 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 22 | 14 | 1 | Ross Chastain | AdventHealth Chevrolet | 400 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 23 | 24 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | Jockey Chevrolet | 400 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 24 | 9 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Interstate Batteries Toyota | 400 | 48 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 25 | 23 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Smithfield Ford | 400 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 26 | 19 | 54 | Ty Gibbs # | Monster Energy Toyota | 398 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 27 | 32 | 77 | Ty Dillon | Ferris Commercial Mowers Chevrolet | 397 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 28 | 30 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Chicago Pneumatic Compressors Ford | 396 | 4 | Ford Mustang |
| 29 | 34 | 78 | BJ McLeod | B'laster Chevrolet | 392 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 30 | 12 | 5 | Kyle Larson | HendrickCars.com Patriotic Chevrolet | 377 | 1 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 31 | 21 | 2 | Austin Cindric | Menards/Duracell Ford | 369 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 32 | 26 | 43 | Erik Jones | U.S. AIR FORCE Chevrolet | 341 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 33 | 35 | 51 | Todd Gilliland | Ruedebusch Development & Construction Ford | 265 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 34 | 6 | 9 | Chase Elliott | NAPA Patriotic Chevrolet | 185 | 6 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 35 | 4 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota | 185 | 20 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 36 | 28 | 42 | Noah Gragson # | Black Rifle Coffee Company Chevrolet | 117 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 37 | 37 | 84 | * Jimmie Johnson | Club Wyndham Chevrolet | 115 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver
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Comment
Congrats to Team Penske and the Ryan Blaney # 12 Ford Mustang team breaking their winless streak. Best of luck for the rest of the Ford teams in the coming weeks. Go Mustangs and Ford Performance.