Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway was one of the best races we have seen at the track since the inception of the Next Gen car in 2022, and it produced a first-time winner in Ty Gibbs.
While the long wait for Gibbs to reach victory lane at the sport’s highest level took much longer than expected (131 races), it did not come without challenges from the two dominant drivers of the day in Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson, who finished second and third, respectively.
Larson ultimately led a race-high 284 laps, but that was largely due to persistent struggles from Blaney’s pit crew. The 2023 champion paced the field for 190 laps and clearly had the best car in “Thunder Valley", but after a late spin from Chase Elliott brought out a caution with 24 laps remaining, Blaney was one of eight lead-lap drivers who came down pit road for fresh tires.
The pit crew did its part on that stop, but Blaney could only recover to finish second behind Gibbs, one of five drivers who elected to stay on track with older tires. In the bigger picture, though, the No. 12 group has been the Achilles heel for Blaney all season, and it was no different on Sunday.
Ryan Blaney needs more help from his pit crew to take advantage of blistering speed
For his part, Blaney is pretty reserved and has been as respectful as he can be toward his over-the-wall crew. However, anyone who has been following the sport closely this season is aware of how poorly Blaney’s pit crew has performed. Even after sweeping the stages, Larson said the quiet part out loud about Blaney's pit road struggles in his post-race interview.
The pit road hiccups were especially evident in Blaney’s win at Phoenix Raceway earlier this season, when he made an astounding 49 on-track passes to make up for lost ground. In that race alone, Blaney was sent to the back twice for his crew not getting all the wheels tight.Â
Furthermore, Blaney has six top 10 finishes in the first eight races of the year, and his lone DNF came in the season-opening Daytona 500 (27th), which is known for producing carnage.
Going back to his championship in 2023, Blaney has arguably been the best driver in the series and has certainly had the fastest car in more races than the box scores would indicate. He still has eight wins during that span, but it sure feels like that could at least be doubled based on the incredible speed he continues to show nearly anywhere the series visits.
In Sunday's race, Blaney ranked inside the top 10 in passing (fourth), defense (fifth), speed (second) and restarts (eighth), further highlighting how impressive he has been in all phases this season.
The one caveat to that remains a pit crew that NASCAR Insights ranked 32nd fastest of the 37 cars in Sunday's race and one that is arguably the worst in the series overall, relative to the race-winning speed that Blaney continues to demonstrate on a weekly basis.
On a positive note, Blaney gained some ground on Tyler Reddick in the standings and is now just 62 points back after the Bristol race. With that said, it has not been a straightforward path to get there because of the pit road woes, and Sunday's runner-up finish was just the latest reminder for a driver who consistently has the fastest car in the series but with little to show for it.
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