HAMPTON, Ga.: Ryan Blaney’s comeback in the Quaker State 400 might have saved not only his race but also his 2024 Playoff hopes.
The defending NASCAR Cup champion was swept up into a wreck after Chris Buescher broke loose on the backstretch Blaney’s Ford sustained further damage from contact with Martin Truex Jr.’s Toyota.
A tremendous effort by the No. 12 Team Penske crew enabled Blaney to get back in the game, recover with a third-place finish and take the points lead in the first race of the Playoffs.
“Honestly, I can’t believe we got back up to where we did,” Blaney said. “The 12 boys did a really good job of fixing it. I’m surprised it didn’t have more damage than what it did.
“From my seat, I got drilled in the left-rear, or the door I guess, where it hit me, and then the right-rear got off the fence. I didn’t know how damaged we were, but I was able to carve up through traffic and kind of get through the middle pretty good.
“I’m really proud of the effort. I had a thought of going three-wide on the frontstretch (after an overtime restart) and I’m like, ‘Man, this is gonna be tight and we’ve already had a really good day going, great points and all that stuff,’ so third is a really good day.”
The Ford camp showed speed from the time the Mustangs rolled off for qualifying. Michael McDowell won the pole and Blaney started on the front row beside him.
Blaney took the lead from McDowell on Lap 30. He was at the point with four laps left to close the stage when Kyle Larson lost control of his car in Turn 2 and collected fellow Playoff driver Chase Briscoe.
The segment ended under caution with Blaney in the lead—for his fourth stage win of the season. He restarted fourth to start Stage 2 and was running third when the second caution was called for debris on Lap 115. Blaney restarted third behind teammate Austin Cindric and Alex Bowman.
Blaney and Cindric worked well together throughout the race, with the Penske drivers finishing first and second at the end of Stage 2. The No. 2 dropped back in the field and hooked up with Joey Logano after a slow pit stop and Blaney was left to his own devices.
As the Toyotas and Chevrolets were mixing it up out front, Blaney was running eighth on Lap 204 when Buescher slid up and body-slammed the No. 12 Ford—sending Blaney into the wall. Blaney then came down into the path of Truex—receiving hits on both sides of the vehicle to bring out the fifth caution.
“I got destroyed in the left rear with him (Buescher) trying to gather it up,” Blaney said. “I don’t know what happened to the 19 (Truex). I was just trying not to wreck, just keep it straight and keep going.”
Ultimately, Truex received the worst of it and finished 35th, 12 laps off of the pace. Following multiple stops, Blaney returned to the field for the Lap 212 restart. By the next caution on Lap 251, he was seventh—where Blaney lined up for a five-lap shootout. Before the checkers flew, Noah Gragson hit the wall and collected Harrison Burton to send the race into overtime.
Logano seized the lead with Blaney on his bumper. Despite a valiant effort by Trackhouse teammates Daniel Suarez and Ross Chastain, the No. 1 Chevy lost momentum—and Suarez lost his help. Although Suarez was able to maintain second as a 12-car wreck erupted in Turn 4, Blaney stuck with Logano and pushed the No. 22 Ford to the win.
“Just trying to connect to Joey well,” Blaney said. “Trying to get tandemed early. Personally, I would have liked to have gotten him clear off of 2—because I knew I’d have to let him go pretty hard into 3. I’d have to lift. You get super tight in 3 if you’re on someone’s bumper.
“I wanted to get him clear so he could give me some air so we could stay close. But the 1 had to bail pretty hard on the top. I was able to get clear for a second—which let me get a big run to Joey to get him clear into 1 and then run side-by-side with the 1 after that.
“Good opportunity. I was glad we were able to run well together. Great points day for us and cool that we got another Penske car moving on.”
Follow Lee Spencer on Twitter @CandiceSpencer or email her at: [email protected].
