The NASCAR Cup race at the World Wide Technology Raceway ended in a dramatic fashion. There were plenty of incidents up and down the order, like Josh Berry’s tire blowing up and Cody Ware having some shenanigans, and then there was the drama of the Kyle and Kyle show ending in tears and heartbreak for a dominant Christopher Bell. However, the icing on the cake was race leader Ryan Blaney experiencing his own heartbreak in the last lap and Austin Cindric’s unexpected triumph.

What a weekend it was! As fans are still processing the race, NASCAR insider Kyle Petty summed all of that up and broke down all the action at Gateway. Acknowledging that Bell was the favorite and the win should have been his, Petty emphasized that his fate had other ideas and decided to break his heart and his car for good measure.

Austin Cindric capitalized, and the defending champion looked like he could be in with a shout to start his title defense. Sadly, the No. 12’s fuel tank was not on the same page as his, and he fell short. In his analysis, Petty spoke about what the World Wide Technology Raceway displayed on Sunday.

Kyle Petty sat down for the NASCAR post-race analysis/summary, where he said, Gateway yesterday, we saw a lot of stuff. We same some speed, and strategy, and we saw some luck. Saw Christopher Bell be the class of the field. Who says there’s no such thing as momentum coming off of Charlotte? He rolls into St. Louis, at the same speed, he’s got it. Running up front, leading laps, getting it done, but at the end of the race, he’s nowhere to be seen. Mechanical issues. That’s why you have to watch a race to the very end.”

“This race is the perfect example. We take the Penske organization, they had the strategy. They put themselves into position, with Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric, and with Joey Logano running in the Top 5 and Top 10. To take advantage and win this race if anything happened.”

The point Petty was making was that this race was not cut-and-dry. Anytime a driver looked like they were going to have the upper hand, something would shake things up. There was an element of strategy, and Bell played the game pretty well until disaster struck at the wrong time.

However, one man’s despair is another man’s joy, and that applied to Ryan Blaney, as he had almost sought his first win in 2024. Then it was his turn for the Wheel of Misfortune, as he dropped from P1 to P24 in less than 24 seconds, and Cindric benefited.

Cindric found out it’s not over until the chequered flag waves

Petty, while noting that this is normal in NASCAR, and how this could happen to anyone, drew in contrasts with the races in the past. He said, “It did happen, remember I just said, Christopher Bell had an issue. Comes down to the last lap of the race. #12 car, Ryan Blaney is leading. The announcers, everybody’s already given it to him, it’s his race. And what happens?”

“Runs out of gas! Now if you want to see, go to Inside the Race and Larry Mac and Todd Gordon are going to break down how much fuel they got in the car and why they ran out of gas. Doesn’t make any difference, he runs out of gas and Austin Cindric wins the race. We’ve seen this happen so many times.”

“Got to put yourself in a position to win that. First car has an issue, you take advantage of it. It’s a win, nobody remembers who runs out of gas and nobody remembers who runs 2nd, they remember Austin Cindric, race winner.”

Considering the slew of issues, Austin Cindric learned a valuable lesson in not giving up. As for Blaney, he could have had it in the bag if he had managed his fuel better or if the team had added a tiny splash more fuel.

In all honesty, running out of gas on the final lap, just meters from the finish line, has to be the worst way to lose. Poor old Blaney did everything right, and a boon fell in his lap with Bell’s issues. Sadly, it was not to be for him, not that teammate Austin Cindric was complaining.