LAS VEGAS, Nev.: It wasn’t a win in Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway for Ryan Blaney, but his fifth place for a solid opening to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs for the Team Penske driver.
Throughout the race’s 267-laps Blaney chased the handling on his No. 12 PPG Ford Mustang but as the race transitioned from day to night, the team was able to power through the aggressive overhaul in track conditions to earn the team’s first top-five since finishing fifth at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International.
Heading to Richmond (Va.) Raceway next week, Blaney sits 10th in the championship standings, 10 points ahead of the cutline occupied by Aric Almirola.
For much of Sunday’s race, Blaney battled a tight No. 12 Team Penske Ford Mustang, but continual adjustments by crew chief Jeremy Bullins allowed Blaney to maintain a presence inside the top-10.
Blaney even took the lead of the race on a Lap 186 restart but as darkness began to fall, Blaney’s car switched to a loose condition and Blaney felt the team may have over-adjusted the car towards the end of the race.
Nonetheless, Blaney fought for track position during the final round of green-flag pit stops and was able to place a considerable gap between himself and sixth-place runner Alex Bowman to earn his eighth top-five finish of 2019.
“It was a long night for sure,” said Blaney. “We didn’t start very good. We started really tight and didn’t go anywhere and I was really worried. We took really big swings at it. We were on the really tight side and really loose side and a little bit of both.”
Blaney said his car wouldn’t fire off as he had hoped following pit stops, and if his car didn’t get so tight at the end of the race, he could have finished two spots higher in third. He admitted though he didn’t have anything for race winner Martin Truex Jr. or Ford Performance teammate Kevin Harvick.
“We couldn’t take off very fast,” he added. “Other guys would take off really fast. At the end of a run we were really fast up by the wall, but we just lost too much ground and then I just got tight there at the end. I might have been able to run third, but the top two cars were in a league of their own, especially the 19.”
The two-time Cup Series winner will return to Richmond hoping to better his 25th place finish in April, finishing two laps in the arrears.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
