Ryan Blaney was frustrated after finishing third Sunday in the Brickyard 400 but didn’t know who to project those emotions toward.
It took double overtime to determine the winner and Blaney felt he was in position to have been that driver. On the first overtime attempt, Blaney chose the outside lane alongside leader Brad Keselowski, who was going to run out of fuel at some point, and Blaney wanted to be ready when it happened.
Keselowski did run out of fuel coming off Turn 4, but it was before the race restarted and he was able to dive to pit road. Kyle Larson, who was running third, moved to the front row for the restart, and even though Blaney was the control car, had the advantageous lane going into Turn 1 and took the lead. Larson maintained the position through the second overtime attempt and won the race.
“I’m [expletive],” Blaney said. “I told my guys I’m ticked off, but I don’t know who to be ticked off at [and] there’s no one to be ticked off at. It’s just racing luck. The break that he got and the hardship that we got right there with that happening at that time killed our race.
“We put ourselves in the perfect spot to win, and just a weird circumstance benefited him and killed our race and any chance to win. That’s what I’m upset about. I’m not mad at anybody. It’s just Lady Luck that I’m [expletive] off at. It sucks.”
The first overtime attempt resulted in a multi-car crash in Turn 1. Larson had already overtaken Blaney when the caution came out and led to a subsequent red flag. During the delay, Blaney was furious on his No. 12 team radio about what he felt was NASCAR giving Larson the race by moving him onto the front row.
It was an extensive back-and-forth conversation as Blaney continued to express his frustration. The reigning series champion felt NASCAR should have waved off the restart and allowed the field to re-choose what lane they wanted because Blaney, as the control car now that Keselowski pitted, would have chosen the inside lane. Instead, Blaney felt Larson, from third, was given the advantage.
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“Obviously, I can easily say if the leader runs out coming to the restart zone, you have so long to wave off the green [and] re-choose because you’re promoting the third-place guy now to where I get screwed,” he said. “I’m the one getting screwed. The third-place guy is benefiting. The guy behind me is benefiting. It’s one of those weird … you don’t see that very often [at] a place like this.
“If it was any other place, it’s not going to be as bad because the second lane you can maintain. Here, it’s a death sentence. You’re not maintaining the lead from the top of the front row, so obviously I’m going to say they should re-rack in that situation just to make it fair. That’s the only way it can be fair. … I think they can do it a little bit different.”
On the second overtime restart, Larson again beat Blaney through Turn 1. The No. 12, with a bit of a wiggle coming off the corner, fell into the clutches of Reddick, who took second place.
“We should have won the race,” Blaney said. “[Keselowski] was going to run out if we went green there, so we’d inherit the lead, and I’m going to pull away from [Larson]. I chose the top on the restart because I couldn’t believe [Keselowski] stayed out; he pitted like six laps before us, and I knew we were tight. There was no way he was making it.
“He stays out, and I chose the top because I was like, ‘He’s going to run out in the restart zone, and I’m going to inherit the lead.,’ and he runs out before pit road, pulls in, and Larson gets promoted to the bottom and the race is over now…
“That just stinks. That’s just dumb luck. We did everything right to win, but he got a break pretty good.”