Blaney Runs Out of Gas, Cindric Wins in St. Louis

It looked like that defending Cup Series Champion Ryan Blaney was on his way to his first win of the 2024 season until coming to the white flag, when his car ran out of gas unexpectedly, leading to his teammate, Austin Cindric, making to pass and earning his second career Cup Series victory. Cindric snapped an 85-race winless streak that dates back to his win at the 2022 Daytona 500. Blaney would finish a disappointing 24th place.

“This weekend was a great weekend for everybody involved,” Cindric said. “But, yeah, to have two cars in the fight, eventual 1-2. Heartbroken for those guys.

“This is huge for me. This is huge for this team. I’m so glad I was able to get a win with Brian (Wilson) as my crew chief in the Cup Series. You never know when it’s going to happen again. Just drove my butt off, hope for the best.”

All three Penske Fords looked strong throughout the weekend, as they ran up front all race long. Cindric, Blaney, and Joey Logano only made three pit stops in the Enjoy Illinois 300, while everyone else at least made four. They restarted 1-2-3 after staying out during the stage two break.

By lap 217, Ryan Blaney was out in front but was being chased down by the driver with the strongest car, Christopher Bell. Bell had swept both stages and once he caught Blaney, they battled side-by-side for several laps until Bell began to back away due to power issues.

“I’m blowing up, I’m blowing up,” Bell told his crew.

However, Bell was in luck, after getting several pushes from his teammate Martin Truex Jr. Thanks to the help of MTJ, who was in 34th, Bell was able to salvage a seventh-place finish. After that, Blaney had his turn of bad luck.

“Never thought in my mind we were short,” Blaney said after the race. “One of those things. Gosh, proud of the 12 boys. We were fast. Had my work cut out for me holding off Christopher. That was a fun battle. I don’t know what happened to him.”

“Yeah, one lap short, which just stinks. Congrats to the 2 team. They did a good job all day. Props to them, Austin. Proud for Team Penske and Ford.”

“Really happy with our showing today. I don’t know what I’ve got to do to get some luck on our side. Gosh, wrecked the last two points races. Thought we had a great shot to win today. Ended up bad.”

As for Bell, who was coming off winning the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600, it seemed like it was a matter of time until he overtook Blaney until engine issues struck.

“I have no idea what happened,” Bell explained. “Some sort of motor issue. I’m surprised that I made it to the end. Glad we were able to salvage something out of it.”

“You don’t get race cars like that very often. Whenever you do, you need to take advantage of it. Disappointing day.”

Denny Hamlin would finish second, Brad Keselowski continued his good momentum in third, while Tyler Reddick and Joey Logano finished in the top five. Austin Dillon, Christopher Bell, Carson Hocevar, Justin Haley, and Kyle Larson rounded out the top ten.

Chase Briscoe was the highest-finishing driver of the Stewart Haas Racing drivers, finishing 17th after the team announced they would be shutting down at the end of the season.

The Cup Series will next head to Sonoma Raceway for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 next Sunday at 3:30 pm EST.