Your 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Champion, Ryan Blaney, and most recent winner of the Coke 600, Christopher Bell, had an absolutely fantastic race for the lead late in the Enjoy Illinois 300 at WWT Raceway. Bell and Blaney duked it out from about lap 210 until lap 221, exchanging passes for the lead with crossovers being traded.

This battle ended abruptly at lap 221 when Bell radios into Adam Stevens that he was blowing up, almost immediately falling back to his eventual 7th place finish. Blaney would appear to run away with the victory with only 19 laps to go. His teammate Austin Cindric ran him down to within a second with 5 laps to go; that time difference absolutely tanked as the pair took the white flag nearly bumper to bumper as Blaney ran out of gas, allowing Cindric to power off and score his second career win.

Austin’s win breaks a winless streak stretching nearly his entire Cup Series career, 94 races since his standalone win at the 2022 Daytona 500. His first career start in his full-time Cup Series career netted him the biggest prize in NASCAR, but his career has been fruitless up until this afternoon.

Austin Cindric led 53 laps in his hunt for the win at Gateway. Austin Cindric would go on to score 57 points on the day, including his 17 Stage Points earned. As of now he sits just ahead of Daniel Suarez locked into the Playoffs.

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