Throughout the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Ryan Blaney had a fast car that could possibly challenge for the win against Austin Dillon.
A late race restart with 28 to go gave him an opportunity, however he would find himself racing Erik Jones for third. While battling underneath Jones, he got loose and slid up into Jones’ No. 20 Toyota. The result was Jones’ Toyota making contact with the outside front stretch wall.
“That sucked and it got me really loose on the bottom of three and four and unfortunately we hit him a little bit,” Blaney commented. “I hate to see him wreck. That was unfortunate.”
Blaney would come down pit road under the caution to make sure there was no damage to his Ford Mustang, getting four tires. Restarting 10th with 20 laps to go, he began to quickly climb through the field in search of victory.
“I didn’t think we would have a shot at it,” he commented. “We didn’t get through traffic great. We got through decent. I think we were fourth with 15 to go or whatever and then we spent a little too much time passing the 54 (Denny Hamlin) and 7 (Regan Smith) than I wanted to. I was kind of cautious there and I was surprised that we actually ran him down.”
Blaney would run down Austin Dillon for the lead, and made a couple attempts to pass, however each of those attempts were blocked by Dillon. In the end, Blaney would cross the finish line second.
“We got there sooner than I thought,” Blaney described the final run to the checkered. “Got a good run off four coming to the white and he did what he needed to do and stopped my run. Then I slipped a little in one and two on the white flag up top and couldn’t get to his outside. It was a good run for us. I think it was a good call to come in and put four on it and tighten me up some more. I was really loose all day and we didn’t have anything for the 33 (Dillon) all day and that gave us a shot at it. Hopefully next time.”
While battling for the win, Dillon and Blaney got close, and some wondered whether Blaney would make contact with Dillon to get the win. Blaney says that didn’t even come to mine as he didn’t need “any more people saying bad things” following his incident with Jones.
“I wasn’t going to move Austin that is for sure,” Blaney stated. “He did what he had to do. He stopped my run. I didn’t expect him to pull over. But no, I wasn’t going to move him to win the race.”
Even though the happiness of the finish stuck with Blaney, it was evident by his behavior that the incident with Jones also stuck with him.
“I mean it is a racing incident but you never want to see a wrecked race car and you be a part of it,” Blaney commented. “I know it is a racing deal and you just hate to be in that position. That is the worst spot to be in, pinned down on the bottom and have someone right on your door. It happens but I don’t like getting into things with people and I hate to see a race car torn up. I hate to see it. I hope he knows I feel bad about it. We have to move on eventually. We will try to do that before tomorrow.”
