Ryan Blaney had the checkered flag in sight and a spot in NASCAR’s title-deciding race within his grasp last week on the last lap of a contentious battle.
Then out of nowhere, Tyler Reddick slid past Blaney in the final turn and snatched the victory away.
Reddick will now race for his first Cup Series championship next week at Phoenix Raceway.
Blaney? He needs either to win Sunday at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia or a miracle for a chance to defend his NASCAR championship.
He admits the defeat cost him sleep, particularly in the hours after the race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“I rewatched it when I got home Sunday night,” Blaney said. “I rewatched the whole race and rewatched the end of it and lost some sleep over the end of that race.”
The replay showed Blaney he made the wrong defensive move in an attempt to hold off Reddick and Denny Hamlin - and he’s second-guessed himself for days.
“When I watch a football game, I’m like, ‘Why didn’t he just do that?’” Blaney said. “In the moment, when you’re that person and you’re that athlete, or living in that time, it’s so much harder than being on the outside and watching on TV with all different angles and things like that. You’re making real-time decisions in the moment. You don’t have any time to process, think about it, go through all the options. It’s boom, boom, boom. It’s all happening super fast.
“You’re never going to be batting 1.000 for making the right decision, the right call and that’s what the difficulty of sporting is, is can you make the right decisions? And how often do you make the right decisions?”
The loss put Blaney sixth in the playoff standings and one of six drivers fighting for the two remaining spots in the winner-take-all championship race. Joey Logano and Reddick claimed the first two spots in the title field with victories in this third round of the playoffs. Blaney of Team Penske is 38 points below the elimination line.
There remains a path for Blaney, though, who if he can make it into the championship would join teammate Logano with two Ford drivers having a 50% chance to win the title. Chase Elliott was below the cutline at Martinsville in 2020, won the race and won the championship. Similar for Christopher Bell, who was below the cutline at Martinsville and won the race to advance to the championship.
Blaney is the defending Martinsville winner and used the momentum from that victory to win his first NASCAR championship.
“I feel like the mental side is the toughest thing about our sport,” Blaney said. “It’s just how do you mentally stay in it and how do you adjust to what you need to do week in, week out and in the moment, and then for the future. So I try not to dwell on the past too much, and you just learn from it and move on.”
Hamlin had a short Saturday at Martinsville Speedway when he crashed during practice. The damage to his No. 11 Toyota was so severe that Joe Gibbs Racing spent the remainder of the session deciding if the car could be repaired or if he’d need a backup.
His car was fast for the 33 laps he made before he backed it into the wall, and despite his abbreviated session he ranked third on the speed chart.
Either way, he couldn’t make a qualifying attempt and will start last Sunday.
Hamlin blamed the crash on a stuck throttle and was livid - he’s below the elimination cutline and can only make the championship four with a victory Sunday or significant collapses by the drivers ahead of him in the standings.
“I am frustrated for sure, we came here really prepared,” Hamlin said. “All the work - now they are going to have to work all night. The way practice was going, it felt like it used to for me. We’ve got some work to do.”
Hamlin is a five-time winner at Martinsville, but hasn’t been to victory lane since 2015.
“Nothing from the past is guaranteed in the future. The fall race, it seems like everyone brings their best, and we have had some unfortunate circumstances at the end of the races here that have kept us out of victory lane,” Hamlin said. “That is just part of it. You just hope that the law of averages work themselves out. It is like anything with data and analytics, one at-bat - anything can happen. You just never know. You just hope you are on the good end of fortune, right?”
Hendrick Motorsports finished the second round of the playoffs believing it had all four of its drivers in the round of eight. But a failed inspection for Alex Bowman disqualified him and Hendrick moved on with only Elliott, William Byron and Kyle Larson in the field.
Now the trio heads to Martinsville with only Byron above the elimination cutline and Hendrick not guaranteed of advancing even one driver to the final four.
If Byron scores 49 points on Sunday, he makes it back to the championship no matter what any other driver does at Martinsville. Larson and Elliott either need to win or collapses by the drivers ahead of them in the standings, although Larson sits just seven points behind Byron.
Elliott felt confident despite the tall task ahead of him.
“Being in a must-win at Martinsville is not necessarily a good thing, right?” Elliott said. “You would much rather have punched your ticket, or be in a point situation that is not last. The reality is that we have to go out here and perform at an extremely high level. If the weekend is not perfect, it’s got to be really close.”
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