Can Ryan Blaney catch a good break this year? The 2022 Cup Series champion has been on the wrong end of things, which started at Phoenix, when the engine on his No. 12 Ford Mustang blew up, forcing him to retire. Next week in Vegas, he was forced into a four-wide, leading to the multi-car accident, and once again, Blaney had to bow out of the race. Then came the race at Homestead Miami Speedway, and this time around, the #12 car was the class of the field and was on hot pursuit of race winner Kyle Larson. But tragedy struck again.
The motor on Blaney’s car gave up on him. Leading 124 laps, he was trying to chase down Larson, but he had to endure another DNF. Jeff Gordon, the vice-chairman of Hendrick Motorsports, felt that Blaney was the driver to beat at Homestead. “Honestly, I think that was the car. It’s ridiculous how fast they were. So I still think we’re chasing right now.” The Ford camp hasn’t been able to provide their star driver with the right resources for him to succeed on the track. As if things weren’t bad enough for him, a Ford-orchestrated wreck at Talladega only added to his misery.
Ryan Blaney caught up in other people’s mess at Talladega
The Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega was supposed to be redemption, a chance for Blaney to finally flex the muscle of Team Penske’s Ford machine. Apart from individual brilliance, manufacturer partnerships between teams play a big role in drafting tracks. So, the Penske star was contributing to that while heading for green flag pit stops initiated by Brad Keselowski and other Ford cars on Lap 43. But the No. 6 Ford rammed made contact with Kyle Busch’s car, and Blaney, who was an innocent bystander, was caught in the crash. This was his fourth DNF of this season in just 10 races, and it’s reached a point where the driver is looking for a lucky break.
“I haven’t seen a great [replay] yet,” Blaney expressed his frustration after the crash. “But talking to Brad, it looks like he was trying to get to pit road with his group of cars. Whoever was behind him didn’t know maybe he was coming to pit… when they got hooked together, they were going up the track. I kind of just committed left, was on the apron, and I think the six got hit by somebody else and it sent him back left and just tagged me in the right rear wheel.” The Penske driver said after the crash.
He did the right thing in order to escape the chaos, but with Alex Bowman clipping the No. 8 car, it pushed Keselowski back down the racetrack. This is where Blaney was trying to thread the needle, unfortunately, he ended up getting dumped. There was the option of using the DVP policy, but the damage to the #12 car was just beyond repair. “It broke a lot of stuff on there we couldn’t fix,” Blaney added. “Just a short day — stinks. Gosh, another DNF is not good. Hopefully, we can get some stuff going on our side where we can just have some smooth races.”
Apr 23, 2023; Talladega, Alabama, USA; A multi-car wreck begins from contact between NASCAR Cup Series driver Bubba Wallace (23) and NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Blaney (12) on the final lap at Talladega Superspeedway. Mandatory Credit: Vasha Hunt-USA TODAY Sports
Well, apart from mechanical trouble, his pit crew has been slacking. Remember the race at Darlington where Blaney lost the lead to Denny Hamlin on the money stop, late in the race. Although luck hasn’t been on the driver’s side, his team hasn’t helped him a ton to help him tackle this rough period. But, there is hope, given that another Team Penske driver was able to punch his ticket to the playoffs with a win at Talladega Superspeedway.
Austin Cindric finally gets his win at Talladega
Cindric is the first Team Penske driver to book his ticket to the playoffs with a win at Dega last Sunday. This wasn’t a lucky break. If anything, a superspeedway win for Cindric was long overdue. He led the race high 59 laps during the Daytona 500, but was caught in the big one at the end. At Atlanta, Kyle Larson ran him up the track late in the race, resulting in another wreck where he was in contention to win. But the story wasn’t the same this time around at Talladega, as he was able to fend off the charge by HMS Chevy and Ryan Preece in the last lap thriller.
“I’m just so proud of everybody on this race team. Team Penske, the entire shop deserves wins at these racetracks with how fast our race cars are and I’m just so proud to be able to win for John Menard and the Menards team – to get this yellow car in Victory Lane and get in the playoffs. There are so many times at the end I was just focused on the feedback (spotter) Doug Campbell was giving me and what I knew about our car and maybe other cars I observed throughout the field today, so just an absolutely fantastic job by everybody involved.” He said this after the race.
So speed isn’t the concern for the Team Penske camp; perhaps execution and a slice of luck might see Ryan Blaney get back in the victory lane.
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