Blaney bitten by Lady Luck once again at Homestead
03/23/2025 07:55 PM
A month of misfortune continued Sunday for Ryan Blaney.
He saw a dominant day at Homestead-Miami Speedway go up in smoke early in the final stage, running third when the engine in his Team Penske Ford Mustang expired on lap 208 down the frontstretch, the extensive trail of white smoke eventually giving way to flames out of the right side of the car as he drove to pit road and parked in his pit stall.
It was the second time the No. 12 team experienced an engine failure in three weeks. Blaney has now failed to finish the last three consecutive Cup Series races. He finished 36th in the 37-car field in Homestead-Miami.
"I didn't have any warning," Blaney told Fox Sports. "It just laid over when I got back to wide-open down the front and that was all she wrote. Gosh, it just stinks."
The first two stages of the Straight Talk Wireless 400 made him look untouchable. Blaney, who qualified sixth, led 124 of the first 165 laps and won the first stage. At times, he gapped the competition by as much as 8s. Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson, both on slightly fresher tires, caught and passed Blaney for the win in the second stage.
On the subsequent pit stops, Blaney lost more track position when he was squeezed into the outside wall on pit road by Chase Eliott, who was exiting his pit stall. Blaney left pit road ninth and restarted seventh after the choose rule. He had climbed to third when the engine expired.
"You have got to be me," Blaney radioed as he drove to pit road. "Sorry fellas. It'll go our way eventually, I hope. I appreciate the fast car."
Blaney went on to tell his team, "Good job all weekend, guys. A really fast race car; keep bringing these things, we'll be good. Keep your head up."
It is the first time in Blaney's career he has had three straight DNFs. He started the season with two consecutive top-seven finishes but has finished no better than 19th in the last four races.
"We had a really fast Dent Wizard Ford Mustang," Blaney said. "We led a lot of laps. We lost a little bit of track position there with some stuff on pit road but got back to third, and it was a great race between me and Bubba and Larson. I'm sure Denny was going to get back into it. It was going to be a heck of a battle the last 60 laps or so, but it just didn't really work out for us.
"We'll continue to keep fighting. I appreciate the 12 guys for just giving me a hot rod. It was an incredibly, incredibly fast race car today. We'll keep our heads up. It's just one of those things where it's not really going our way right now, but the good news is we're bringing fast cars and that's all you can ask for. We'll keep on moving."
