Ryan Blaney deftly navigated the final eight laps of Sunday’s race at Michigan to get his second win of 2021.
Blaney got the lead on the race’s final restart thanks to a huge push from Kyle Busch. Blaney, who was fourth before the restart, chose the inside line on the restart after the inside had not been the preferred groove all day at the two-mile track. That inside line restarted him on the front row and he stayed out front after Busch pushed him into clean air.
Blaney’s expert driving over the final eight laps showed just how important it is for a driver to be able to use his car’s aerodynamics to block chasing cars. Blaney didn’t have the race’s fastest car. We think. Maybe he just didn’t have the track position. He only led once for those final eight laps.
But when Blaney got out front he kept everyone behind him. Hendrick teammates William Byron and Kyle Larson were in hot pursuit — they seemed faster than Blaney all day — but they never had a legitimate pass attempt over the race’s waning laps.
“I hate you have to race that way but that’s how you have to run,” Blaney said after climbing from his car.
Blaney’s win is the seventh consecutive win for Ford at Michigan.
Race results
1. Ryan Blaney
2. William Byron
3. Kyle Larson
4. Kurt Busch
5. Denny Hamlin
6. Matt DiBenedetto
7. Kyle Busch
8. Chase Elliott
9. Brad Keselowski
10. Martin Truex Jr.
11. Chase Briscoe
12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
13. Christopher Bell
14. Kevin Harvick
15. Chris Buescher
16. Alex Bowman
17. Aric Almirola
18. Erik Jones
19. Bubba Wallace
20. Michael McDowell
21. Ryan Preece
22. Daniel Suarez
23. Cole Custer
24. Ryan Newman
25. Justin Haley
26. Josh Berry
27. Cody Ware
28. BJ McLeod
29. Tyler Reddick
30. Quin Houff
31. Josh Bilicki
32. Garrett Smithley
33. Joey Logano
34. Anthony Alfredo
35. Ross Chastain
36. Austin Dillon
37. Joey Gase