INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – “That’s gonna be a laughing stock in the racing industry for a long time.”
While hard to listen to, let alone agree with, those were the words from a subdued Ryan Blaney moments after losing Saturday’s Lilly Diabetes 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway to Kyle Busch.
Blaney driving for team owner Roger Penske, the all-time winningest car owner at the famed yard of bricks lost the race on a last lap pass to Kyle Busch, who made a bold move on the backstretch to overtake the Team Penske driver and surge ahead to his second NASCAR XFINITY Series win of the season.
Losing the biggest race of his NASCAR career so far can be damning to any driver, but to someone like Blaney who strives for perfection behind the wheel, he did his best of not allowing the agonizing moments of defeat to consume him fully in public, but rather glow in the state of respect and class.
“Not many can say they had a chance to win at the Brickyard and gave it away, but I did just that,” said Blaney. “I think I’m the only one in that category, so I’m leading that category but that’s definitely gonna sting for a long time.”
While it’s Blaney’s character to take responsibility for situations that don’t amount to success in the end, a series of obstacles set up for the last lap pass that shouldn’t leave the all the weight on his shoulders.
A lapped car stalled the momentum of Blaney’s reasonable lead, allowing Busch to close in quickly and ultimately utilize the draft on the white flag lap to collect his 72nd XFINITY Series win.
The High Point, North Carolina native said the lapped car didn’t cost him his fourth career XFINITY Series triumph, but rather getting tight and driving too deep into the corner sealed his fate.
“It’s my fault, obviously,” added Blaney. “I screwed up. This team doesn’t deserve that. I dropped the ball for them today and I take full responsibility. It’s all my fault.
“This Discount Tire team doesn’t deserve that and I threw it away. It’s a pretty bad feeling to throw one away here at the Brickyard. “There was no pressure for 24 laps and the last one I just made a mistake.”
It goes without saying that Blaney will learn from Saturday afternoon’s mistake and ultimately will make him a better driver. While Blaney said the loss will “sting” for a long while, the amount of support that poured out to him post-race was overwhelming.
I'm sure @Blaney feels awful right now but he's gonna accomplish goals in his career that will soon leave today a very distant memory.
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) July 25, 2015
Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR’s most popular driver tweeted out after the race, “I’m sure @Blaney feels awful right now but he’s gonna accomplish goals in his career that will soon leave today a very distant memory.”
Understandably tough to hear praise from his peers and race fans alike, Blaney said he appreciated Earnhardt reaching out through social media.
“It doesn’t really take any of the shame away from doing that, but getting words of encouragement from Dale definitely means a lot to me,” Blaney explained.
As much as his fan base would understand if Blaney didn’t want to show up and compete in Sunday’s Crown Royal presents the Jeff Kyle 400 at the Brickyard, the son of former NASCAR racer Dave Blaney must put his XFINITY performance in the rear-view mirror and focus ahead on his No. 21 Cup program with Wood Bros. Racing.
“You learn a little bit of stuff today to help you for tomorrow, where you can get big runs on people and where you’ve got to do it,” said Blaney, who qualified his Cup car 30th Saturday. “ You can take away a little bit of it, but they drive pretty differently here – the Cup cars and XFINITY cars – but you’ve got to put it behind you how hard it’s gonna be.
“We’ve got another big race tomorrow. We don’t start very good, but hopefully we’ll make our way up there. We didn’t start very good today, but you’ve got to put it out of your mind as fast as you can and we’ll try to do that.”
If there’s any consolation for Blaney, his second-place finish earned him one of four spots in XFINITY’s Dash4Cash program, earning him an opportunity to win a $100,000 bonus if he finishes ahead of Elliott Sadler, Regan Smith and Daniel Suarez for the Aug. 21 race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
Blaney is a former XFINITY winner at Bristol. In fact, he’s the defending champion.
And while it may be difficult to ease the sting until then, winning round three of the XFINITY Dash4Cash program next month sure would make Indianapolis look a lot less disappointing.
Follow Chris Knight @Knighter01.
