Ryan Blaney prevails after long delay in three-wide NASCAR thriller at Atlanta

Ryan Blaney won a delayed NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta’s EchoPark Speedway after a long rain interruption, prevailing in a three-wide finish at about 2 a.m. local time on Monday. Blaney led for 171 laps across 14 lead changes, but needed a push from Christopher Bell off the final turn in overtime to pass Bubba Wallace and Carson Hocevar. The race had been thrown into a red-flag delay lasting three hours and nine minutes after a summertime Southern thunderstorm moved through following the first 108 laps. Wallace initially finished second but was penalized for going out of bounds on the bottom after a three-wide move, with NASCAR dropping him to 29th. After reviewing video in the garage, the team’s appeal did not change the call, which was upheld after a 31-minute meeting. The event followed the track’s 2022 reconfiguration into a mini superspeedway.