KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney had a fast car Saturday night at Kansas Speedway, but the driver of the No. 12 Rev Ford Fusion had nothing to show for it after being eliminated from the KC Masterpiece 400 with 20 laps to go at Kansas Speedway.
On a Lap 243 restart, Blaney found himself sliding through the field after breaking loose while battling for the lead against Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. The near-accident cost the High Point, N.C. native three spots.
While marching his way back to the front, Blaney was battling Kyle Larson were battling for fourth when they made contact entering Turn 1. The damage from the incident cut a tire on Blaney’s Ford and sent him hard into the outside wall.
Blaney drove away from the scene but went directly to the garage. Larson was able to continue and rebounded for fourth despite having to pit twice, the second time to tighten lug nuts.
Blaney, 24, led the third-highest laps in the race with 53 and won Stage 1. Larson, who led 100 laps won Stage 2 after starting last for changing tires after qualifying on Friday afternoon.
Afterward, Blaney took responsibility for the crash that resulted in a 39th place finish.
“I don’t know. It was hard racing. I definitely take the blame on that one. I was just trying to side draft hard and the car was kind of light down the frontstretch there and it was just hard racing at the end. I got about spun out in one and two on the restart, getting sucked around.
“We were making some spots back up and just trying to get back up to the front and tried too hard. That stinks. We had a really fast race car.”
Before the accident, Blaney said his Team Penske organization made some progress with their on-track performance.
“I thought we made a good gain tonight and where our cars need to be. Hopefully, we can carry that forward into the next upcoming weeks, but it was definitely my fault just trying too hard. I made contact and it cut my right-front down. I hate I got the 42, but it was just hard racing.”
Larson said the contact with Blaney hindered their opportunity to win the race.
“Blaney was side-drafting really hard and I was as high as I could get and we made contact, whatever, and we had a bunch of damage, so I hate that we didn’t turn today into a win, but it’s satisfying to see how much speed our car had tonight,” he said.
“And, it’s definitely good to show that Chevy has a lot of speed, at least in the No. 42 team; so, we’ll just keep working hard and try to get as fast as the No. 4 (Kevin Harvick). I thought, myself, the No. 4 and the No. 12 (Blaney) were all pretty equal tonight. It was kind of just whoever got out in clean air and could get to the top quick enough would be the fastest throughout the run. So, it was a fun race but a little bit disappointing there in the last 20 laps.”
Blaney insisted that side-drafting was essential to make passes in the race.
“That’s the only option,” added Blaney. “If I didn’t side draft him and get some position on it he would have sucked me around into one, so I feel like that was my only option.
“Looking back on it now, it probably wasn’t my only option, but in the moment, I thought it was. The cars are really edge and hard to handle.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
