TALLADEGA, Ala.: Close on fuel, it appeared that Ryan Blaney was sitting in the catbird’s seat on a restart with two laps to go in Sunday’s YellaWood 500 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, but an intense last lap saw a charge from Chase Elliott that proved too much for the Team Penske driver to overcome.
Desperately needing a good effort on Sunday to put him in a good position to advance to the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, Blaney led seven time for a total of 31 laps, including winning Stage 2 and earning 10 stage points and 1 Playoff point all in hopes of ending his winless season and automatically advancing the next round starting at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway in two weeks.
With Elliott challenging for the lead at the white flag, Blaney stood his ground on the bottom of the race with help from Michael McDowell but with energy on the high lane between the cars of Elliott and Erik Jones – the battle for the win screamed down the backstretch and into Turn 3 where the bottom lane separated just slightly when allowed Elliott to emerge with the lead and Blaney searching for one last opportunity to reclaim the top spot.
Coming to the checkered flag which is closer to Turn 1 at the 2.66-mile superspeedway, Blaney attempted to make a move on the high lane but a light block from Elliott was enough for the close friends to finish 1-2 with Blaney’s No. 12 Dutch Boys Ford Mustang 0.046 seconds behind.
“I was fine lining up bottom or top, honestly, working with Ross (Chastain) there for a while,” Blaney said after the race. “I knew he pushed good and I knew obviously Michael (McDowell) could push really good, too. So, I didn’t really care where we were gonna be lining up. I got a good push there and was able to get too good of a push on the restart and got the 9 (Chase Elliott) clear and then he was able to lead the top lane.
“We had a great chance at winning the thing, but we got disconnected in the middle of three and four,” added Blaney. |I don’t know if the 11 (Denny Hamlin) laid off of him (McDowell), but we disconnected and let the 9 and 43 get a big run.
“Mine was just kind of a little bit too late. I’ll look at it probably pick at a few things I probably should have done different, wish I would have done different, but it’s easy to say that now. Overall, it was a decent day. It just stinks to be that close to our first win of the season.”
Blaney said he could have moved up to the top lane where Elliott and Jones had momentum but he was worried about being put in the middle and losing several spots and not having enough time to recover in the race.
“I had a couple chances to move up to the top and cover it and I was just getting nervous about getting hung in the middle with the 9, the 43 (Erik Jones) and the 1 (Chastain) lined up,” he said. “I just didn’t feel comfortable going up there and trusting, I trust Chase, but not that much to where he wouldn’t have hung me out for the greater good of his group, so just chose to stay on the bottom with Michael (McDowell).”
Thinking about it after recording his 10th top-five of the season, Blaney offered a thought about what he could have done differently if he could repeat the final two laps.
“I think the only thing I probably would have done different is, one, realize that the 11 was laying off the 34 in the middle of three and four and faded back with them,” Blaney explained. “It just happened really quick and then I probably would have coming to the checkered – if we would have won or not, I don’t know – but got back to the bottom – kind of do the fake high, go low, but he was watching and I was kind of far back.
“I think it was gonna be too little too late anyway, but a couple things.”
When asked if points were on his mind throughout Sunday’s race, he admitted that he briefly thought about it – but ultimately he was wanting to deliver his first win of the season.
“I had that thought before the restart and then we got going green and you turn into race win mode,” he said. “For a moment I was like, ‘It would be good to line up on the front row and see what we can get. I just don’t want to get turned.’ But, I forgot all about that. I just wanted to win the race.”
On the heels of a fourth-place effort at Texas Motor Speedway and his first runner-up effort of the season, the seven-time Cup Series winner heads to the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway ROVAL second overall in the Playoff standings and a solid 32-point cushion above the cutline.
Blaney, though, is still hunting his first win of the season and as a former winner at the ROVAL, he is hungry to repeat his 2018 triumph.
I’m happy we’re in a decent spot on points, but we really want to win, though,” he quipped.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
