Ryan Blaney ends winless drought in crash, rain-filled Coke 600

The race included 31 lead changes, 16 caution flags, flaring tempers both on and off the track, and even a mid-race rain delay. Additionally, NASCAR's Xfinity Series, postponed from Saturday, was run afterwards, making for 900 miles on the track in total.

For Blaney, it's the end of a winless streak that spanned 58 races and dated back to August of 2021. He led 163 laps and drove away from the field on the final restart after a slew of late-race crashes.

The race's most noteworthy incident occurred much earlier, when Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin collided while running near the front. Both cars were out of the race following what Hamlin perceived to be intentional contact from Elliott.

That wasn't the only drama, either. During a red flag for a passing rain shower, Aric Almirola shoved Bubba Wallace on pit road following some contact the two had made on the track. It will be interesting to see how NASCAR responds to both incidents.

Blaney had the fastest car all night long, but his chance of winning appeared to be slim late in the going after he fell back to fifth place with a slow pit stop. However, he was able to show grit and resilience as he battled back to pass William Byron on the next-to-last restart.

Besides Blaney and Byron, just about everybody in the field encountered some significant adversity along the way. Meanwhile, the attrition of NASCAR's marathon event allowed for several drivers to score noteworthy results, such as rookie Zane Smith coming in 10th.

Historically one of the sport's biggest crown jewel races, the Coke 600 had endured a stretch in recent years in which it was marred by underwhelming action. But after a thriller last season, NASCAR has now had back-to-back action-packed races on Memorial Day weekend.