Ryan Blaney won his first career NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race Sunday night at Texas Motor Speedway.

The Team Penske driver earned $1 million for his efforts.

To get the victory, Blaney had to beat Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin to the finish line, which he did by a margin of  .266-seconds in overtime.

His win felt good but was a bit controversial.

He and his team thought he had won the race in regulation. But NASCAR ruled that a  yellow light was on for an incident involving Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on the backstretch.

“It was about to be real bad for us, I thought the race was over,” Blaney said after the race. “Everyone thought the race was over. I already had my window net down.

“I do want to thank NASCAR for letting me kind of fix it and not make us come down pit road. But yeah, that was really tough. Then having to do it all over again after trying to get that window net back up there.

“Great car, [crew chief] Jonathan Hassler, everybody on this 12-group did a great job.

“I know it’s not a points-winning race,” he added. “But it’s going to be a lot of fun. Party is going to be pretty big.”

The runner-up Hamlin was unhappy with the extra accommodation – the extended laps under caution – to allow Blaney to get the safety net back up and secured.

“You know, it’s tough because he deserved to win the race, but if you mess up and you break a rule – not intentionally, but there’s rules and we have rules in place for safety,” Hamlin explained. “My crew chief is taking four weeks off [a penalty from a pit road infraction earlier in the season] because of safety.

“I nearly crashed him off of Turn 2 when I got squeezed there. If I send him into traffic and he’s got no window net, then what, right? Luckily, that didn’t happen.”

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NASCAR Cup Series Race – NASCAR All-Star Race

Texas Motor Speedway

Fort Worth, Texas

Sunday, May 22, 2022

1. (2)  Ryan Blaney, Ford, 140.
2. (16)  Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 140.
3. (12)  Austin Cindric #, Ford, 140.
4. (9)  Joey Logano, Ford, 140.
5. (23)  Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 140.
6. (20)  Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 140.
7. (10)  AJ Allmendinger(i), Chevrolet, 140.
8. (22)  Chris Buescher, Ford, 140.
9. (18)  Brad Keselowski, Ford, 140.
10. (14)  Christopher Bell, Toyota, 140.
11. (3)  William Byron, Chevrolet, 140.
12. (8)  Aric Almirola, Ford, 140.
13. (5)  Kurt Busch, Toyota, 140.
14. (7)  Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 140.
15. (19)  Michael McDowell, Ford, 140.
16. (17)  Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 140.
17. (15)  Kevin Harvick, Ford, 140.
18. (11)  Chase Briscoe, Ford, 140.
19. (21)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 139.
20. (24)  Erik Jones, Chevrolet, Accident, 103.
21. (1)  Kyle Busch, Toyota, Accident, 47.
22. (6)  Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, Accident, 47.
23. (13)  Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, Accident, 47.
24. (4)  Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, Accident, 36.

Average Speed of Race Winner:  102.62 mph.

Time of Race:  2 Hrs, 2 Mins, 47 Secs. Margin of Victory:  0.266 Seconds.

Caution Flags:  8 for 31 laps.

Lead Changes:  3 among 4 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   K. Busch 1-47;A. Cindric # 48-54;W. Byron 55-56;R. Blaney 57-140.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Ryan Blaney 1 time for 84 laps; Kyle Busch 1 time for 47 laps; Austin Cindric # 1 time for 7 laps; William Byron 1 time for 2 laps.

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NASCAR Cup Series Race – NASCAR All-Star Open

Texas Motor Speedway

Fort Worth, Texas

Sunday, May 22, 2022

1. (2)  Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 50.
2. (7)  Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 50.
3. (6)  Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 50.
4. (8)  Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 50.
5. (4)  Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 50.
6. (12)  Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 50.
7. (10)  Cole Custer, Ford, 50.
8. (14)  Todd Gilliland #, Ford, 50.
9. (13)  Cody Ware, Ford, 50.
10. (15)  Garrett Smithley, Ford, 50.
11. (16)  BJ McLeod, Ford, 50.
12. (1)  Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, Accident, 42.
13. (9)  Harrison Burton #, Ford, Accident, 42.
14. (5)  Chris Buescher, Ford, Stage 2 Winner, 40.
15. (11)  Landon Cassill(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 25.
16. (3)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, Stage 1 Winner, 20.

Average Speed of Race Winner:  82.518 mph.

Time of Race:  0 Hrs, 54 Mins, 32 Secs. Margin of Victory:  1.393 Seconds.

Caution Flags:  4 for 8 laps.

Lead Changes:  4 among 4 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   T. Reddick 0;R. Stenhouse Jr. 1-20;C. LaJoie 21-31;C. Buescher 32-40;D. Suarez 41-50.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 1 time for 20 laps; Corey LaJoie 1 time for 11 laps; Daniel Suarez 1 time for 10 laps; Chris Buescher 1 time for 9 laps.

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