Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney returned to the site of his first career NASCAR Cup Series win and pulled away from the field in the closing laps of Sunday’s The Great American Getaway 400 at a sold-out Pocono (Pa.) Raceway to deliver a strong reminder to the competition that he’s primed to contend for another season trophy.

Blaney’s No. 12 Team Penske Ford held off the track’s all-time winningest driver Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota by 1.312-seconds to give Blaney his second victory of the season – both coming in just the last month – and the 12^th win of the 30-year old’s career.

“Hell yeah boys, let’s go,’ an elated Blaney screamed to his team as he crossed the historic Pocono finish line.

With the victory Blaney moves up to fifth place in the championship standings and thanks to his first win of the year at Iowa Speedway on June 16, he’s one of only five drivers with multiple victories on the season.

“Feel like we’ve gotten to a great pace and speed the last couple months, honestly thought we let a couple races slip away from us I thought we should have won,’’ Blaney said, adding, “It’s just so cool to win here again. Won here seven years ago for my first Cup win, so awesome to be back.’’

Although he ran among the top-10 for much of the race, Blaney ultimately took the lead on a restart with 44 laps remaining and never relinquished it despite two more restarts and a highly-motivated Hamlin lining up either alongside him or directly behind him on each of those green flags. 

Last week’s race winner, Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman filled Blaney’s mirrors for much of the closing laps until getting passed by Hamlin with seven laps remaining. Bowman finished third with his Hendrick teammate William Byron and Blaney’s Team Penske teammate Joey Logano rounding out the top-five.

“Track position was just such a big thing and when that 12 [Blaney] jumped on that stage we won that put them in front of us and certainly were going to be hard to pass,’’ said Hamlin, a seven-time Pocono race winner who won Sunday’s second stage.

“Just not enough laps of green there at the end but hats off to them, great run. He kept up great pace at there at the front and hard for me to even get up there close enough to try to reel him in.’’

23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick, Roush Fenway Keselowski’s Brad Keselowski, JGR’s Martin Truex Jr. (the opening stage winner), Hendrick’s Chase Elliott and 23XI’s Bubba Wallace rounded out the Top-10. Both Elliott’s and Wallace’s finishes, in particular, were impactful on the championship standings.

The 2020 series champion Elliott took over the championship lead from his teammate, 2021 series champ Kyle Larson and takes a slim three-point advantage atop the regular season standings with only five races remaining before the Playoffs. The regular season champion receives a valuable 15 extra Playoff points to carry with him through the 10-race Playoff run.

Wallace’s top-10 was also important in his quest to become championship eligible for the second consecutive year. He is now ranked 17^th, only 27 points behind 16^th place Ross Chastain with the top-16 drivers following the Sept. 1 race at Darlington, S.C. eligible for the championship.

Chastain, one of four drivers inside the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff field without a win but based on points, finished 36^th on Sunday. His No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet slammed the Turn 1 wall on Lap 53 and the team had to retire the car.

Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch was involved in a multi-car accident with 39 laps remaining and finished 32^nd Sunday. He’s now finished 27^th or worse in four of the last five races and is ranked 19^th in the standings, 102 points behind 16^th place Chastain. The two-time series champion is not only trying to make the Playoffs but extend a career winning streak to 19 seasons.