(Photo: Riley Thompson | The Podium Finish)
LINCOLN, Ala. — Ryan Blaney crossed the finish line at Talladega Superspeedway and immediately cued up his radio.
“F—! Sorry, guys. Damn it!”
Blaney finished second to Chase Elliott, falling short in pursuit of his first victory this season. And it’s more bittersweet for the 28-year-old with how the final laps ended.
Blaney started off his afternoon by winning Stage 1, scoring 10 much-needed stage points and a Playoff point. He would’ve been in position for points in Stage 2, but Blaney decided to bail out of the main pack to avoid a potential wreck.
But, a wreck never came. He fought to finish 17th in Stage 2.
“I definitely knew it was gonna be hard to get back up front in that stage,” Blaney said. “I knew once we made our bed there and then we pitted and then got shuffled after the pit stop I was like, ‘OK, I’m bailing. I’m riding in the back,’ and never saw a wreck. There were no big wrecks all day, which was good to see.
“I think everyone’s gotten better at this speed of taking pushes and what to expect. I think everyone’s gotten more skilled and knowledgeable about it. You still have to be careful what you do, but it just shows that we can push real hard and not really cause any big wrecks.”
Over the course of the race, Blaney led seven times for 31 laps and found himself in a prime position in the final stage.
With the help of Ross Chastain behind him, Blaney led the top lane throughout Stage 3 and battled Erik Jones, who led the bottom lane. But with seven laps to go and Jones in the lead, Daniel Hemric stalled at the end of pit road and caused a caution.
On a restart with two laps to go, Blaney started on the bottom after Jones elected to take the top. Blaney got a good jump, and with fellow Ford Michael McDowell behind him, he jumped out to the lead.
Blaney took the white flag as the leader, but suddenly, Elliott had a run on the top and the two went down the backstretch side-by-side. Blaney inched ahead entering Turn 3, but Jones shoved Elliott ahead through Turn 4.
Elliott pulled several feet ahead through the tri-oval and Blaney had one last chance at a move. But, he got there too late. Blaney darted inside heading toward the checkered flag but Elliott beat him there by half a car length.
(Photo: Riley Thompson | The Podium Finish)
“We had a great chance at winning the thing, but we got disconnected in the middle of three and four,” Blaney said. “I was fine lining up bottom or top, honestly, working with Ross [Chastain] there for a while. 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 [Elliott] clear and then he was able to lead the top lane.
“It just stinks to be that close to our first win of the season.”
Blaney moved into second in driver’s points behind only Elliott. He scored 45 points on Sunday, and with a fourth-place finish last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, Blaney is 32 points above the Playoff cutline.
Now, Blaney can move onto the Charlotte ROVAL, where he won the inaugural race in 2018. He’s not locked into the Round of 8, but he’s in a comfortable position.
The Bank of America ROVAL 400 is scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 9 at 2 p.m. on NBC. Kyle Larson is the defending winner.
