Ryan Blaney keeps replaying the end of Talladega race
It’s been over a year since Ryan Blaney last won a points-paying NASCAR Cup Series race. Once again, he’ll have to wait until next weekend for a shot to score the eighth win of his career.
But, boy, did he come close to ending the drought Sunday at Talladega. And now, he sits rethinking the last lap of Sunday’s YellaWood 500.
“I’ll look at it probably to pick at a few things I probably should have done different, wish I would have done different, but it’s easy to say that now,” said Blaney, who finished second to race winner Chase Elliott. “Overall, it was a decent day. It just stinks to be that close to our first win of the season.”
Blaney’s last Cup Series win came at the 2021 regular-season finale at Daytona. He won NASCAR’s All-Star race earlier this year, but that was an exhibition race that does not award points.
At Talladega, Blaney made it to the front of the pack thanks in part to a great pit stop late in the race. Blaney led several laps, battling Erik Jones and Ross Chastain.
After the final caution, Blaney lined up in the lower line with Michael McDowell right behind him for the two-lap sprint to the finish. McDowell gave Blaney a great push to take the lead, but Chase Elliott passed him on the inside on the final lap. Blaney was unable to carry enough momentum to repass Eliott as the field raced towards the checkered flag.
“I was fine lining up bottom or top, honestly, working with Ross there for a while,” Blaney said. “I knew he pushed good and I knew obviously Michael could push really good, too. So, I didn’t really care where we were gonna be lining up.
"I got a good push there and was able to get too good of a push on the restart and got the 9 (Elliott) clear and then he was able to lead the top lane. I had a couple chances to move up to the top and cover it and I was just getting nervous about getting hung in the middle with the 9, the 43 and the 1 lined up. I just didn’t feel comfortable going up there and trusting, I trust Chase, but not that much to where he wouldn’t have hung me out for the greater good of his group, so just chose to stay on the bottom with Michael.
“We had a great chance at winning the thing, but we got disconnected in the middle of (turns) three and four. I don’t know if the 11 (Denny Hamlin) laid off of him, but we disconnected and let the 9 and 43 get a big run. Mine was just kind of a little bit too late.”
He may not have won, but Blaney moved closer to advancing to the Round of 8 and remains in contention for his first Cup championship. Blaney now heads to the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, where he won the inaugural race in 2018, for this Sunday's final race of the Round of 12.