Ryan Blaney wins 3-wide battle on final lap of overtime in NASCAR Cup race in Atlanta

HAMPTON, Ga. (AP) — A late brush with the wall wasn't enough to send Ryan Blaney to pit row.

The decision paid off with a dominant victory.

Blaney emerged from a three-wide battle on the final lap of overtime in the weather-delayed NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta early Monday.

Blaney won every stage of the race and led 171 laps after starting on the pole, but the Team Penske Ford driver had to fight off challenges from Bubba Wallace and Christopher Hill, who finished second, on the final lap. Carson Hocevar and Ty Gibbs rounded out the top four.

Wallace was penalized for passing below the double yellow lines and finished 29th instead of second.

There was a delay of 3 hours, 9 minutes because of rain and lightning. The raced ended at 1:45 a.m. at EchoPark Speedway.

Blaney won the first two stages but brushed the wall with 29 laps remaining, causing possible damage on his right side, after he was cut off by Wallace. Blaney remained on the track despite telling his crew he felt a “terrible” vibration.

“I tried to make a move and just got loose and hit the fence,” Blaney said. “You know I think it’s just concrete in the wheels and paint and stuff like that but luckily it still drove really decent. ... It wasn’t too bad. Luckily it wasn’t enough damage we couldn’t keep running.”

Blaney's crew chief Jonathan Hassler said his team was able to view photos of the right side of the car and determine the best chance to win was to remain on the track.

“There were 30 cars on the lead lap at that point and not a lot of laps left,' Hassler said. ”Our best chance to win was to stay out there."

Multiple drivers, including Kyle Larson, Chase Briscoe and Riley Herbst, were involved in a wreck with five laps remaining to set up the overtime.

There had been concern about approaching rain before lighting within eight miles of the 1.54-mile oval track near Atlanta led NASCAR officials to order cars off the track and advise fans to exit the grandstand. Rain began soon after the race was delayed. Following some caution laps and pit stops, the race went back to green at 12:02 a.m.

Blaney said he “took a nap and ate a little food” during the delay. Larson said the resumption of the race a few minutes before midnight “is definitely past my bedtime.”

Blaney won the pole and his Team Penske teammate Joey Logano joined him on the front row. A third Team Penske driver, Austin Cindric, moved up to third early in the race for an early strong showing for the Fords.

Cup Series points leader Denny Hamlin, who qualified 28th, finished 12th. Tyler Reddick was eighth.

Reddick, who won at EchoPark Speedway in February as part of his string of five wins in the season's first nine races, qualified only 31st on Saturday. By the 35th lap he already had moved up to fourth, proving early that he again would be a factor in Atlanta.

The weather delay was the first caution for cause in the race, a dramatic departure from the weekend’s first race.

There were a track-record 13 cautions in Saturday night’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race won by Justin Allgaier. That total included four red flag incidents, creating an ominous preview for the Cup Series race.

The first caution for an incident on the track in the Cup Series race came when AJ Allmendinger lost control of his Chevrolet with 67 laps remaining. Allmendinger blew a tire and hit the wall with 25 laps remaining to cause another caution.

This was Chase Elliott’s 10th year of his Design to Drive program with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. He gave credit to the baseball-themed design of his No. 9 Chevrolet to two patients, 8-year-old Maximus Peace and 9-year-old Noelle Springer.

The program raised $545,500 for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta in its first nine years. Elliott finished 13th.

Blaney’s Stage 1 win gave Team Penske Fords yet another strong start in Atlanta. Team Penske drivers have won Stage 1 in six of the last eight races at the track.

Blaney held off Reddick, who finished second in the first stage after qualifying 31st.

The Cup Series moves to North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, next weekend. Christopher Bell edged Joey Logano at North Wilkesboro Speedway in the NASCAR All-Star Race on May 18, 2025.

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Ryan Blaney wins during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday, July 12, 2026, in Hampton, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Ryan Blaney (12) moves during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday, July 12, 2026, in Hampton, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Ryan Blaney celebrates after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday, July 12, 2026, in Hampton, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Ryan Blaney celebrates after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday, July 12, 2026, in Hampton, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Ryan Blaney celebrates after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday, July 12, 2026, in Hampton, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, and Austin Cindric, from left, run during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday, July 12, 2026, in Hampton, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, and Austin Cindric, from left, run during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday, July 12, 2026, in Hampton, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Severe weather moves through as cars stop in pit row during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday, July 12, 2026, in Hampton, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Bubba Wallace (23) and Ryan Blaney (12) move on the track during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday, July 12, 2026, in Hampton, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Ryan Blaney (12) and Joey Logano (22) run during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race, Sunday, July 12, 2026, in Hampton, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

CAMARILLO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 21, 2026--

Semtech Corporation (Nasdaq: SMTC), a leading provider of high-performance semiconductors powering AI data center networking and intelligent, connected Internet of Things (“IoT”) devices worldwide, today announced full production availability of its mobile transport portfolio enabling 50G fronthaul for the next wave of 5G-Advanced radio deployments. The announcement aligns with the industry’s transition to 50G optical interfaces, marked by Ericsson’s Mobile World Congress 2026-announced portfolio of AI-ready Massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) and remote radios, and Nokia’s Doksuri Remote Radio Heads built on the latest ReefShark System on Chip (SoC) — each engineered to handle the surge in uplink traffic driven by multi-modal AI, augmented reality, and generative AI applications on mobile devices.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260920077196/en/

Cloud-assisted AI applications are reshaping mobile traffic patterns. Industry forecasts, including those published by the Mobile Optical Pluggables Alliance (MOPA), point to a 3x–5x increase in uplink capacity requirements as devices offload heavy AI inference to the cloud. This shift lands hardest on the fronthaul, where the encoding overhead of uplink traffic leaves less headroom to grow, making 50G optics increasingly critical to fronthaul design.

“The optical layer is the foundation of the AI-era mobile network,” said Stefan Dahlfort, president of the Mobile Optical Pluggables Alliance (MOPA). “With operators and system vendors now committing to 50G fronthaul, the industry needs interoperable, high-volume silicon solutions ready today. Semtech’s portfolio supports MOPA's blueprints and the broader introduction of 5G-Advanced.”

“Bringing 50G optical modules to volume requires close partnership between module makers and silicon suppliers,” said Frank Chang, chief technology officer at Source Photonics. “Semtech's CDR and TIA portfolio gives us the flexibility and performance we need to deliver across the full range of fronthaul architectures our customers are deploying.”

“AI is rewriting the rules of mobile traffic, and the uplink is now one of the critical dimensions,” said Raza Khan, director of wireless marketing with Semtech's signal integrity products group. “With the industry’s latest radios moving to 50G interfaces, customers need a complete, qualified solution they can deploy today, not a roadmap promise. Semtech’s wireless portfolio enables the various architectures that the industry is building.”

Now shipping in volume, Semtech’s portfolio enables system vendors and operators to deploy the fronthaul architecture required by many of today's radio platforms:

Built on Semtech’s ClearEdge®, Tri-Edge™ and FiberEdge® product families, the portfolio enables 50G fronthaul deployments for 5G-Advanced today and is designed to scale toward 6G through 2030.

Semtech continues to work with module partners and system vendors across the ecosystem to support the transition to 5G-Advanced and, ultimately, 6G.

See Semtech at the European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC) 2026, booth #2054, from Sept. 21–23 in Málaga, Spain.

About Semtech

Semtech Corporation (Nasdaq: SMTC) is a leading provider of high-performance semiconductors powering AI data center networking and intelligent, connected IoT devices worldwide. Our global teams are committed to empowering solution architects and application developers to develop breakthrough products for the infrastructure, industrial and consumer markets. To learn more about Semtech technology, visit us at Semtech.com or follow us on LinkedIn or X.

Semtech, the Semtech logo, ClearEdge, and FiberEdge are registered trademarks or service marks of Semtech Corporation or its subsidiaries, and Tri-Edge is a trademark or service mark of Semtech Corporation or its subsidiaries. All other trademarks, service marks and trade names mentioned in this press release are the property of their respective owners.

SMTC-P

Now shipping in volume, Semtech’s mobile transport portfolio enables system vendors and operators to deploy the fronthaul architecture required by many of today's radio platforms.