Do you think these guys can’t hear outside noises?
Tell that to Ryan Blaney, who ended his winless streak at 59 on Monday.
Perhaps his victory was appropriate. Waiting a day and a half of rain to run the longest event on the schedule, the Coca-Cola 600, likely wasn’t a big deal for Blaney, who has been waiting since his win at Daytona on Aug. 28, 2021.
Blaney choked before shedding a tear. “You start to feel like you can’t win anymore when you haven’t won in a while. It’s kind of hard. So, I’m just so grateful to the (No. 12) guys for believing in me.”
But if there is a cheating streak, it’s a blancian streak. He was the only driver to qualify last year in points and finished tied for third in the Big Five with 12. Monday was his eighth top-10 in 14 races this year and his fifth in the last six.
NASCAR Road: Will Ross Chastain get the win? Can Harvick hold out? Can Chase Elliott be recharged?
Speed freaks: Is Ryan Blaney ready to go; Are Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin okay?
NASCAR Ball: Chase Elliott broke Denny Hamlin, but must he be stopped? It was Bubba Wallace! vote!
Does the victory mean anything to Blaney in the long run? Time will tell. It should be noted that the last time he won a race, he won two races in a row, winning at Michigan a week before heading to Daytona in 2021.
The future can wait but Blaney’s wait is over.
Let’s go through the gears.
First gear: Denny Hamlin accuses Chase Elliott of having a “tantrum,” calls for suspension
The boy is NASCAR in a Vlasik-sized pickle.
Can she really hang her biggest star?
For the sake of fairness, maybe it should. After all, restarting Chase Elliott’s car that made a left turn, hooking Denny Hamlin to the rear right… straight into the fence… and having the two make contact right back with Elliott heading into the wall, is pretty painful. Especially given the precedent set by Bubba Wallace’s one-race suspension in October of Kyle Larson crashing in Las Vegas in a similar and violent crash.
But there is wiggle room here. One, and perhaps most importantly, Elliott denied intent, claiming that contact with the wall caused him to lose control of his car. Upon further review, Brad Keselowski made contact with Elliott from behind, although it appeared he came after his car had already started to spin.
This is another NASCAR “damned if they do, damned if they don’t” NASCAR, to be sure.
But Hamlin is among the many who have made up their minds.
“It’s a tantrum and he shouldn’t be racing next week,” Hamlin said. “Back right hooks are totally unacceptable. I don’t care. It’s the same thing Bubba Wallace did to Kyle Larson. Exact same thing. He shouldn’t be racing.”
Second gear: Bubba Wallace gives the jumper to Aric Almirola
The drama between Elliott and Hamlin had an argument from earlier in the same period that seems like ancient history.
A video posted to Twitter showed Aric Almirola and Wallace meeting up for a chat during a rain delay early in Stage 2. After Wallace bent down and started to walk away, Almirola shoved him with the two back together as they were separated by security. The conversation continued but no further contact was made.
The feud likely stemmed from some minor contact between the two earlier in the race.
“Early in the race I felt like I was giving Bubba a lot of space when we were racing each other and when he passed me, he shot the bird,” Almirola explained. He shot the bird at me and started talking loudly and cursing at me and I told him I wouldn’t do that. frustrated. That is, I know it. “
Third Gear: A Not Long-Term Legacy
A tough season reached brutal and unusual levels on Monday for the Legacy Motor Club team.
All three of the organization’s entries went into the garage around the same time, with Eric Jones and Noh Gragson both hitting debris and damaging their radiators on the same lap.
Things did not improve after the repairs, as Gargson and Jimmie Johnson collided with each other, causing an accident and a caution. Combined, the three finished 32ndAbbreviation II (Jones), 36y (Gragson) and 37y (Johnson) for a total of 627 laps down.
Fourth gear: Second round at the gate
One race is hardly long enough to get us plenty of ideas about what to expect at Gateway next week.
Joey Logano won the inaugural event last year in the one-and-a-half-mile oval, which looks like Darlington and hugs like Martinsville. Ford and Toyota combined for the top six with Eric Jones’ four laps being the only track lead by a Chevrolet.
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