Blaney has just one more chance after Homestead defeat
10/27/2024 07:32 PM
Ryan Blaney has plenty to think about leaving Homestead-Miami Speedway after being bested by Tyler Reddick in the final two corners on the final lap.
Blaney finished second in the Straight Talk Wireless 400 and remains out of a transfer spot with one race left in the NASCAR Cup Series’ Round of 8. The reigning series champion had taken the lead from Denny Hamlin with two laps to go Sunday, but was then passed by Reddick, who flew by on the outside, on the final lap in Turn 3. The side-by-side between the two drivers didn't last long as Reddick finished the pass in Turn 4 and drove to the victory.
"It's obvious disappointment," Blaney said. "I had a great shot to win and I didn't have a very good last lap. Man, I thought I got into 3 hard and just blitzed it off in there and it stuck for him, which is pretty impressive. I hate we gave one away there like that. I don't know if we gave it away; we got the lead back after losing it on the restart and the last lap just didn't really play out for us.
"It definitely stinks. I appreciate everybody on the 12 team for bringing a really fast race car. We had a great shot to go to Phoenix, and still got one more chance, so we still have to look forward to that."
Blaney restarted on the inside of the front row for the final green flag with seven laps to go, but Hamlin grabbed the top spot by going to the outside of Blaney and Reddick in Turn 1.
With two laps to go, the Team Penske driver used the bottom lane to get to the inside of Hamlin for the race lead. He completed the pass in Turns 3 and 4 coming to the white flag. Reddick went to second place on the final lap off Turn 2 and easily drove around the outside of Blaney, who left a lane open, going into Turn 3.
"Yeah, a shame," Blaney said. "I'll be picking through what I should have done different , probably, and that's just the way it goes. Overall, really proud of the effort and hopefully we can bring it to them next week."
Monday will be the first chance Blaney has to look ahead to Martinsville Speedway (Nov. 3, 2 p.m. ET). Until then, he admitted, "This feeling will suck," after being so close to a victory. Although he tries not to stew on results, he said there are tons of things he could have done differently on the final lap.
To start, there was no getting to the bottom in Turns 1 and 2, which gave Reddick clean air as he moved around Hamlin. It wasn’t even possible to slide up in front of Reddick in Turn 3 — the timing worked better for Reddick to drive it further into the corner and make it stick.
"The Toyotas could do that really good all day," Blaney said. "Their entry speed was crazy fast and it benefitted him there. It stinks. It was an up and down day and it was a shame to lose one on the last lap like that."
Blaney led 47 laps at Homestead-Miami Speedway and earned 13 playoff points. He’s now 38 points out of a transfer spot going into the final race of the penultimate round, but he is the defending winner at Martinsville.
"I'm not fired up right now for Martinsville," Blaney said. "I'll take the night to replay a couple things and figure out what I could have done better. Tomorrow morning, we'll re-stack and get ready for Martinsville.
"I'm excited, though. I'm super excited about the speed we had today. I can't complain about that. Last week's speed was great, too, before we got in the wreck. Hopefully we bring that same speed to Martinsville."
