Why Homestead win felt like redemption for Ryan Blaney

For the second straight year, Ryan Blaney won the final race of the NASCAR Cup Series season. But this victory felt more personal than last year's triumph at Phoenix. 

It was two years ago at Homestead-Miami Speedway that Tyler Reddick passed Blaney for the win in the final corner at Homestead. On Sunday evening, Blaney did the same to Reddick — just one lap sooner. 

Blaney, who followed in the tire tracks of Denny Hamlin at the start of Stage 3, led only seven laps on Sunday but got to the front when it mattered the most to score his first Homestead win. 

"Every time I come here, that race haunts me," Blaney told NBC. "I gave that one away. I didn't do a very good job at the end of that race. Learned from it, and was able to apply some stuff we learned a couple years ago to that situation to tonight."

How Ryan Blaney won Homestead

Blaney got a poor launch when the green flag waved on the final restart of the night but battled back and put himself in a position to chase down Reddick, who had passed William Byron for the lead but was slipping, especially when he ran the bottom lane. 

That allowed Blaney to get a huge run on Reddick when he ran the top with two laps to go, and the No. 45 didn't have nearly enough momentum to stay side-by-side at the white flag. 

"Car was really, really fast," Blaney said. "I appreciate everyone for sticking with it, even though we weren't part of the championship fight. Our goal was to try to win the race and end on a high note and get the most points that we can."

Blaney ended the season fourth in the standings, 94 points back of champion Kyle Larson. He totaled four wins on the season and now has 21 in his Cup career.