Ryan Blaney Ends the NASCAR Early Season Express of Tyler Reddick with Win at Phoenix

Phoenix Raceway, Phoenix, AZ — March 8, 2026

It was billed as the “Desert Double,” a race weekend with NASCAR and IndyCar, both series competing on the same track, the same weekend. It also marked IndyCar’s return to the 1-mile oval in the desert for the first time since 2018. Josef Newgarden took the win in the Good Ranchers 250, Kyle Kirkwood finished second, and David Malukas, the pole-sitter, took third. The race was a thriller, with 565 on-track passes recorded. Team Penske used some late-race power moves to capture the checkered flag.

Team Penske has a lot to look forward to today. Penske driver Joey Logano won the pole for the Straight Talk Wireless 500. Teammates Austin Cindric and Ryan Blaney will start third and fifth respectively.

Kyle Larson sits next to Logano on the front row. Larson’s teammate, Alex Bowman, will not race today at Phoenix after a vertigo diagnosis. Bowman had to climb out of his car early last weekend at COTA. Anthony Alfredo will sit in the driver’s seat of the No. 48 race car for this event. “Fast Pasta” starts 31st on the grid today.

Also, lest we forget, Tyler Reddick is looking to extend his season opening win streak to 4-races.

Both Phoenix races last year had a last-lap pass for the win, the only races at the track to end with a last lap pass. Five drivers finished top-10 in both Phoenix races in 2025: Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Josh Berry, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin. Kyle Larson was the only driver to finish top-five in both Phoenix races in 2025, he has finished in the top-five in the last three
races there (the longest active streak).

Stages for the 312 miles/laps today are set for 60/125/127 laps.

Stage One

Joey Logano(22) turned the fastest lap of the race on his second circuit around the track. Kyle Larson(5) had an ill-handling race car and dropped out of the top-10 early. Just 40 laps into the stage, all three Penske cars had lined-up 1-2-3 with Ryan Blaney(12) in second and Austin Cindric(2) running third. Tyler Reddick(45) ran fourth after starting eighth.

As the laps in Stage One ran down, Blaney took over the top spot and began lapping slower traffic. Cindric dropped to the sixth spot as Reddick, Christopher Bell(20), and Denny Hamlin(11) moved into the top five.

Results of Stage One

Of the 37 cars that started the race only 25 remained on the lead lap prior to a “lucky dog” (Riley Herbst Car#35) being awarded a free-pass.

Stage Two

Bell and Logano lead the field back to green flag racing with Blaney and Hamlin in tow. Bell moved out into the lead with Blaney and Logano trailing. While the leaders run single file, two, three, and four wide racing went on back in the pack.

On lap 93, Kyle Busch(8) had a right front tire go down and he hit the outside wall. Busch made it to pit road without the caution being displayed. However, one lap later, Shane Van Gisbergen(97) (SVG) had a flat tire and he spun to a stop just before the flag stand. The car would not refire and NASCAR was forced to put the race under caution. SVG lost a lap and Busch lost two laps having their issues addressed.

The lead lap cars pitted for tires and fuel that will not get them to the end of the Stage, but will make their next one a quicker in-and-out of pit road. A number of drivers a lap down took advantage of the wave around to get back on the lead lap.

Blaney had to return to pit road to have a loose wheel tightened, Bubba Wallace(23) was penalized for speeding on pit road during his pit stop. Both drivers will restart at the rear of the field.

No sooner had the race gone back to green than another incident occurred with Chase Elliott(9) and Daniel Suarez(7) spinning and the yellow flag waved again. Both cars sustained damage and came to pit road for service. Ryan Preece(60) and Josh Berry(21) were also involved with minor damage to their race cars. All four drivers were able to stay on the lead lap and started from the rear of the field when green flag racing resumed.

Logano and Bell ran 1-2 out front with Reddick in third, Chase Briscoe(19) fourth, and Hamlin running in the fifth spot 115 laps into the race. One more pit stop will be required for the field to complete the 125 laps in Stage Two.

Lap 132 saw Chase Briscoe have a right rear tire go down and slam hard into the outside wall. Briscoe was forced to take his car to the garage. The rest of the field was thankful for the chance to come to pit road and service their car under the yellow flag as the laps left were in the window to finish the Stage after this stop.

On lap 158 a number of drivers began experiencing tire issues Noah Gragson(4), William Byron(24), and Michael McDowell(71) all had tire failures within a matter a two laps from each other. The caution came out again. America’s Crew Chief, Larry McReynolds, suggested that crews are getting aggressive with tire pressures and that may be a factor in the failures.

Many drivers pitted for fresh rubber, while a few gambled and stayed out to improve their track position. Ryan Preece and Brad Keselowski(6) were two of those drivers that stayed out and they led the field back to green with 8 laps to go in the Stage. The cars with old tires fell off quickly as Hamlin, Bell, Chris Buescher(17) and Logano surged to the front.

The pace really picked up with drivers racing for positions throughout the field. Bell, Hamlin, and Logano have run near the front consistently all afternoon all.

Results of Stage Two

The Final Stage

Christopher Bell, Joey Logano, Bubba Wallace(23), Chris Buescher, Austin Cindric, Carson Hocevar(77), Tyler Reddick, Ty Gibbs(54), Denny Hamlin, and Chase Elliott are the top ten heading into the Final Stage of the race. Just like Stage Two, at least one pit stop will be required to finish the laps remaining.

With 102 laps to go, Ryan Preece spun with an assist from Connor Zilisch(88) who was bumped. Under the caution most drivers pitted, Elliott and Berry stayed out as they were running short of fresh rubber and another stop will be required to complete the 312 total laps.

On the restart Joey Logano and Ross Chastain got together. Chastain spun collecting Austin Cindric, and Anthony Alfredo(48). Logano avoided serious damage to his car but dropped back in the pack trying to keep himself pointed in the right direction.

Rack ’em up and fire off again. Bell and Blaney ran nose to tail and pulled away from the pack to settle things between themselves. But, when SVG got loose of the front bumper of Austin Dillon(3) and spun out the caution waved again. Everyone came to pit road for fresh tires. Ty Gibbs only took two new Goodyears, coming off pit road behind Bell, but ahead of Blaney.

The green flag resumed racing with 60 laps to go. A lap later, AJ Allmendinger(16) tapped Logano who spun down the track then back up towards the wall. In addition to Logano, the wreck collected Josh Berry and Daniel Suarez knocking them out of the race. Austin Dillon(3), Chase Elliott, and SVG also suffered minor damage.

Bell, Gibbs, Blaney, and Hamlin will start it off again with 49 laps to go. Tyler Reddick you ask? Still hanging in there running seventh. Bell and Gibbs took off. Blaney got in a heated fight with Larson and Reddick ending up back in fifth. Blaney finally passed Reddick and Larson to reach the third spot. But he trailed Gibbs by a second and Bell by almost three seconds.

With 30 laps to go, Blaney passed Gibbs to take the second spot and was turning laps slightly faster than the leader.

Both Zilisch and Austin Hill(33) had tires go down. Both made it to pit road without a caution. Then Austin Dillon lost one and could not make it to the pits. The caution came out for the 11th time and everyone dove onto pit road for hopefully their final stop.

The strategy was a mixed bag as some cars took two tires, while others took four. The running order off pit road changed dramatically. Gibbs, Blaney, Larson, Reddick, Byron, McDowell, Hocevar all came out of the pits ahead of Bell who took four tires.

What do we always say? Cautions breed cautions! They could not complete a lap before Ty Dillon(10), John Hunter Nemechek(42), and Zane Smith(38) wrecked.

With 12 laps to go they restarted in another running order. Larson, Gibbs, Byron, Blaney, Reddick, Hocevar, and Smith were still ahead of Bell.

Christopher Bell used his four fresh tires to drive past the leaders and get to the second spot behind Blaney with seven laps to go. However, the driver who passed the most cars all day long was not going to be caught once he was out front. Blaney makes it a Team Penske sweep for the weekend. Stops the Reddick express (Tyler finished 8th), and gets Ford Racing into the win column early in the season.

NASCAR Cup Series Standings

Results of the Straight Talk Wireless 500 from Phoenix Raceway