Ryan Blaney & Chase Elliott Secure Can-Am Duel Victories

Ryan Blaney Secures First Career Can-Am Duel Victory

Ryan Blaney and his Team Penske teammates were the class of the field Thursday Night. All three Penske drivers led at least one lap during the race with Blaney leading the most important one, the last one. Blaney took the lead on the final restart and never looked back earning his first victory in the Can-Am Duels and Team Penske's second of speedweeks. 

"I thought our car was super fast all night.  I thought all three of our cars were really fast, myself, Brad and Joey.  It's a shame the two got tore up," said Blaney in the post race media availibility. "I thought we were able to really control the whole race pretty much.  We saw that in the Clash, the 2 was able to control it, Joey was able to control it.  I was kind of the middle.  We had a set plan to try to work with each other the best we can.  I think we do that great as a whole organization.. He did a good job all night, but really happy for our whole team.  Can't thank everybody enough from the whole organization for giving us a fast car."

Darrell Wallace Jr. and Logano battled coming to the line with Logano earning second and Wallace Jr. finishing third. Ford drivers Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kurt Busch rounded out the top-five. 

Brad Keselowski stayed up front with his Team Penske teammates until he got turnned by Jamie McMurray on the backstretch on lap 59. He was relegated to a 16th place finish and will start from the rear of the field on Sunday much like he did in the Advanced Auto Parts Clash last Sunday. 

Also joining Keselowski in going to a backup car will be Jimmie Johnson and Aric Almirola, who wrecked on lap 10. William Byron will also go to a backup car after spinning and sustaining damage on lap 40.

Photo Credit - Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Results from Can-Am Duel No. 1

  1. Ryan Blaney
  2. Joey Logano
  3. Darrell Wallace Jr. 
  4. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  5. Kurt Busch
  6. Ryan Newman
  7. David Ragan
  8. Daniel Suarez
  9. Jamie McMurray
  10. Chris Buescher
  11. Ty Dillon
  12. Brendan Gaughan
  13. Jeffrey Earnhardt
  14. Alex Bowman
  15. Justin Marks 
  16. Brad Keselowski
  17. David Gilliland
  18. William Byron
  19. Jimmie Johnson
  20. Aric Almirola

Chase Elliott Earns Second Straight Victory in Can-Am Duels

Chase Elliott again showed his strong hand on Thursday Night in the second Can-Am Duel of the evening. Elliott led a total of 34 laps en route to the victory, earning the Chverolet Camro ZL1 its first victory in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

Kevin Harvick and his teammate Clint Bowyer worked together majority of the race and began to make a run for the lead but they ran out of time. While pushing the duo failed to block the No. 20 of Erik Jones who snuck up and finished third. Harvick remained second while Bowyer finished fourth. Kyle Busch rounded out the top-five. 

Only two drivers will have to move to back-up cars following just one accident in the Duel. On lap 12, Elliott took the air from Erik Jones as he went spinning. Kyle Larson and Matt DiBenedetto both sustained damage and will have to go to their back-up cars. 

Photo Credit - Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Results from Can-Am Duel No. 2

  1. Chase Elliott
  2. Kevin Harvick
  3. Erik Jones
  4. Clint Bowyer
  5. Kyle Busch
  6. Austin Dillon
  7. Paul Menard
  8. Trevor Bayne
  9. Denny Hamlin
  10. A.J. Allmendinger
  11. Michael McDowell
  12. Martin Truex Jr.
  13. Kasey Kahne
  14. Danica Patrick
  15. D.J. Kennington
  16. Corey Lajoie
  17. Gray Gaulding
  18. Mark Thompson
  19. Matt DiBenedetto
  20. Kyle Larson

Comments

Post a Comment