Ryan Blaney could taste it. The reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion knew his first Brickyard 400 victory was within reach and, even more impressive, his third victory in the past six races. At the first restart of the overtime, he lined up on the outside of the first row with former Penske teammate Brad Keselowski on the inside, but that wasn’t to be. RFK Racing’s No. 6 car, which pitted 10 laps earlier than most of the leaders, stumbled at the start after running out of gas, and the 2012 champion made an unexpected left turn to follow the leaders down pit road.
Kyle Larson, who was on the inside of the second row, moved into the vacant spot as the two cars crossed the start-finish line and raced into turn one. Larson got a shot to take the lead before a pileup in the field. Caution.
Immediately after the caution period, Blaney, upset with NASCAR’s indecisiveness on the restart, went on the No. 12 team radio. “That’s an [expletive]! There’s no [expletive] way he could jump out a row forward and I’d get an [expletive],” the 29-year-old driver said of Larson’s driving. “Because somebody ran out of gas.” This is [expletive][expletive] NASCAR, and you [expletive] it too. You better change it.”
A few minutes later, when one of Blaney’s team members suggested the Hendrick Motorsports driver might have jumped the start, the reigning Cup champion wasn’t listening. “I don’t care. That’s [expletive][expletive],” he said. “There’s no way they’re greening this.” That’s ridiculous. You just gave it to them.”
“It’s not over,” spotter Tim Fedewa tried to reassure the driver.
“It’s over,” Blaney said. “I’m up in the outside lane. You can’t win from up there.” Give Golden Boy a [expletive], son of a [expletive].”
Ryan Blaney Finishes Third Behind Larson in Controversial Finish
After a 17-minute red flag delay, the cars backed up, but it happened again. At this second overtime restart, Larson retakes the lead after the first few corners, but his closest competitor is Tyler Reddick in the No. 45, not the No. 12. Ryan Blaney drops back to third. But before the cars can complete a lap around the 4.5-mile track, Ryan Preece crashes. It’s clear that the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing car can’t continue. He was beached. In other words, NASCAR should have waved a caution before the No. 5 car crossed the finish line on the white-flag lap and reset for another overtime race. That didn’t happen.
Instead, officials waved a caution just after Larson crossed the white flag to lead the field. The Hendrick Motorsports driver was declared the winner. NASCAR’s reluctance to wave the yellow flag when it was clear Preece would not be able to return to pit road naturally spawned conspiracy theories and, ironically, only added credence to Blaney’s comments just minutes earlier.
Kyle Larson responds to Ryan Blaney’s comments
Larson’s win makes him the first driver to win four Cup Series championships in 2024. The No. 5 driver is clearly one of the favorites to win the playoffs, and Blaney will likely be one of his toughest competitors. The HMS driver appeared on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on July 22 and addressed the Team Penske driver’s comments. “No, that’s crazy,” Larson said. “He’s obviously a very passionate racing driver and when he gets upset he gets very upset on the radio, but I don’t hold that comment against him at all. I thought that was pretty funny. And to be honest, if the positions were reversed I would have been just as upset as he was, and maybe I would have called him the golden boy.
So it’s just tough. I think they were put in a bit of a tough spot, but the rules as they are now are what they are legally. So I’m not saying they couldn’t look at it and change it in the future, but the way the rules were written yesterday, it just worked in our favor.
