‘Just Dumb Luck’: Blaney Disappointed with Brickyard 400 Ending

By David Morgan, Associate Editor

SPEEDWAY, Ind. – Ryan Blaney didn’t know whether to be mad or frustrated with the way Sunday’s Brickyard 400 ended for he and the No. 12 Team Penske team.

Blaney looked to be in the catbird seat as the laps were winding down on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval, chasing down Brad Keselowski with Kyle Larson in his rear-view.

Keselowski was iffy on even being able to make it to the end, while Blaney had hopefully saved enough to see him through to the finish and Larson was on kill behind them without having to worry about fuel – at least in regulation.

When a caution flag flew with three laps to go in regulation, sending the race into overtime, Keselowski’s fuel issues shifted into overdrive, as Blaney appeared to be the benefactor should his tank run dry.

Coming to the first overtime restart, Keselowski indeed ran dry, forcing him to peel off onto pit road, leaving Blaney as the control car on the front row. However, the vacancy on the front row was quickly filled by Larson who advanced from third to the inside of the front row for the restart, sending Blaney into a tirade on the radio.

“That’s f****** bullshit. No f****** way. There is no f****** way he gets to jump up a row and I get f****** screwed because someone ran out of gas. That’s f****** bullshit NASCAR and you f****** know it.”

Despite being outraged with Larson moving up to the front row and into the favorable line for the restart, there was still work to be done.

Blaney was able to hold his ground on the first overtime restart, staying even with Larson before the caution flag flew again to send the race into a second overtime.

After waiting out the red flag that came with the first overtime wreck, Blaney and Larson re-racked them and got set to go again for the second overtime restart. This time, Larson, as well as Tyler Reddick, were able to get the better of Blaney on the restart, which saw him fall to third place by the time the field got around to the backstretch.

A half a lap later, after Larson had taken the white flag, the caution was displayed again, this time for Ryan Preece’s stranded Ford ending the race as is.

Blaney would have to settle for a third-place result on a day when it seemed he just might have a chance to deliver Roger Penske a Brickyard 400 win at the track that he owns. Instead, he’s left wondering what might have been if things had played out differently in the closing stages of the race.

“It was hard fought. I thought we had a really good shot to win today,” Blaney said. “I appreciate Menards and Atlas and Ford and the 12 group for putting us in position. Our car was fast and I thought we had really good strategy. We were the front guy of having to save a little bit of gas but I thought we put ourselves in a great spot.

“I knew the 6 was probably going to run out if it went green. We came to the restart and I couldn’t believe they stayed out. Ther was no way they were going to make it. So I obviously chose the top because he might run out in the restart zone. And he winds up coming to the green so he gets to go to pit road and the 5 gets promoted. Luck of the day right there I guess.

“I don’t even know what to get mad about. I am mad about losing this race because I thought we were in the perfect position. Once I lost control of the race, obviously I would have been on the bottom, but I thought the 6 would run out in the restart zone or on the back. It stinks to lose it that way.

“I appreciate the effort. I hate we don’t get to celebrate with Mr. Penske and with everyone from Penske here. That stings a lot. We just have to keep going, that is all we can do.”

Given the heavy weight that track position and lane choice plays at Indianapolis, Blaney would have liked to have seen NASCAR make the call to re-choose given the new dynamics up front.

“Call it off and rechoose. Because now you promote the third-place guy before the second place guy if the leader has problems. That isn’t right,” said Blaney.

“It is just dumb luck. At this race track where the bottom is preferred. I don’t know. I am just upset. That is a heartbreaker. We did everything right today. We were in prime position to win and it just didn’t work out for us.

“I just got unlucky. I am not going to sleep very good tonight, I will tell you that. I appreciate Team Penske and everybody for the fast car. We have been super fast and it showed again today. It just wasn’t meant to be.”