Ryan Blaney comes up one spot shy of Bristol win despite dominant drive

Ryan Blaney took the lead from Kyle Larson on lap 338 of Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway and drove away like he was taking a Sunday drive down the interstate. 

The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion seemed to be cruising to his second win of 2026 until he hit lapped traffic with less than 50 laps to go, which drew second-place Ty Gibbs closer. 

Still, Blaney maintained an advantage of roughly one second until the yellow flew with 24 laps to go. 

That put Blaney and the No. 12 team in a difficult position. With Blaney on old tires, crew chief Jonathan Hassler opted to bring him down pit road. 

It proved to be a decision that might've cost Blaney the win. While he did drive back up to second before the final caution that forced the race into overtime, he couldn't get around Gibbs, who had stayed out on old tires, on the final restart. 

Blaney dove into the final corner hard but didn't have enough grip to draw completely even with Gibbs at the checkered flag. Gibbs beat Blaney to the line by only 0.055 seconds. 

Ryan Blaney comments on Bristol loss

"Great battle for sure," Blaney told Fox Sports. "I got free into [turn] 3 two or three laps before the last yellow. That kinda cost me some time. I gave it my best shot on the last restart. Got a good restart and was close. Just couldn't get it done."

While he didn't win the race, Blaney led 190 laps and cut into Tyler Reddick's points lead, which is down to just 62 points going into the ninth race of the season at Kansas on April 19.