[autotag]Ryan Blaney[/autotag] had the second-best car behind Christopher Bell in the final laps of the USA TODAY 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, but a likely top-3 finish was blown up with nine laps to go. Michael McDowell, who started on the front row, realized he had a great shot at winning and sent it into Turn 1. McDowell didn’t stick and ended up taking Blaney out with him.
The driver of the No. 12 car was very unhappy on the radio and didn’t understand what McDowell was doing on the restart. Following the event, Blaney discussed McDowell’s apology on pit road and the incident on the race track.
“An apology’s nice, but it’s not going to bring back what [Michael McDowell] did,” Blaney said. “I mean, I knew what he was trying to do. It was like a low-percentage move. I mean, it’s wet down there, and you’re just going to shove it off in there and what do you think’s going to happen? You’re going to take both of us out.”
McDowell into Blaney!
Blaney and McDowell spin!Less than 10 laps remain on USA Network. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/O72G4CKcF7
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) June 23, 2024
“So I know he’s got to win and all that, and that’s his excuse, but you’ve got to be a little bit more calculated than that, and it just stinks that we’re at the expense of it. Man, I really thought we had a decent shot to contend.”
Blaney went from a likely top-3 finish to 25th place. It was a disappointing finish for the Team Penske driver, who sat in second place during the two-hour rain delay. Luckily for Blaney, he won at Iowa Speedway the previous weekend, so he’s locked into the playoffs. It will be interesting to see if Blaney repays the favor to McDowell in the coming weeks.
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