By David Morgan, Associate Editor
Close, but no cigar.
Over the course of the final five laps of Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, both Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin could taste victory and a berth in the NASCAR Cup Series championship race, but by the time the checkered flag waved, they were left with only disappointment.
Hamlin held the point at the start of the final restart, with Blaney hot on his heels as the two drivers dueled it out for the win. However, there was another challenger lurking behind them in Tyler Reddick and his black and orange 23XI Racing Toyota.
Blaney was able to take over the lead with two laps remaining, holding both Hamlin and Reddick at bay as they charged around the 1.5-mile oval, all gunning for the win and a place in the title fight in the season finale at Phoenix.
But when they reached the end of the backstretch for the final time and sailed off into Turn 3, Blaney chose to run the middle lane, clearing the way for Reddick to do what he does best and power around the outside riding right up against the wall to take over the top spot and get back to the finish line first to claim the win.
Blaney would cross the line in second, 0.241 seconds back of Reddick, with Hamlin finishing the day in third-place.
As a result, both Blaney and Hamlin find themselves on the outside looking in heading into Martinsville for one last shot at locking into the championship race.
“I had a great shot to win. Didn’t have a very good last lap,” said Blaney. “Man, I thought I got into three hard. The 45 just blitzed off in there. It stuck for him, which is pretty impressive.
“Yeah, I hate to give one away there like that. I don’t know if we gave it away. I mean, we got the lead back after losing on the restart. Yeah, just last bit didn’t really play out for us. Definitely stinks.
“Appreciate everybody on the 12 team for bringing a really fast race car. Had a great shot to go to Phoenix. Still got one more chance. Look forward to that.”
Sitting 38 points back after Homestead, Blaney will have to pull off another walk-off win at Martinsville, just as he did a year ago en route to his first Cup championship, if he hopes to have a chance to go back-to-back.
“It will suck for the night, then we’ll look forward to Martinsville tomorrow morning,” Blaney said of trying to put the disappointment behind him and focus on next Sunday.
“We try to forget things quick. I’ve tried to do that more and more as I’ve gotten older, move on to the next thing, good, bad or indifferent, focus on the task. This team will do it.
“I can’t say how proud I am of them coming in and understanding what we needed to do. Just a shame it didn’t work out.
“We had good fortune at Martinsville last year. Hopefully we can bring the same kind of speed and be in contention to win.”
As for Hamlin, it was a bittersweet ending for him as the team he owns is moving on to Phoenix with a shot at the championship for the first time, but it comes at his expense.
“Tried to cover all lanes, but just couldn’t quite get off the corner as good as I needed to there on that short run. Short run wasn’t my specialty all day, obviously.
“Either way, controlling the race with two to go, you got to try to find a way to finish it. Just didn’t.”
Hamlin will have some work to do at Martinsville as he sits 18 points back of the cut-off line – a deficit that is possible to get in on points, but the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team will certainly have their sight set squarely on getting the win and leaving no doubts.
“It’s another opportunity. Certainly, you’re not out of it till they throw the checkered flag at Martinsville.”
Connect with Us
To RSS Feed
Followers
Likes