Ryan Blaney broke down his approach to the final-lap fight with Bubba Wallace and Carson Hocevar at EchoPark Speedway. The Team Penske driver called it a ‘respectful’ scrap between the frontrunners.
Sunday’s Quaker State 400 faced a three-hour weather delay and ended almost 2 in the morning. Despite the hold off, Blaney was the most dominant driver of the day.
He swept both stages, led 171 of the 263 laps, and won by a narrow margin of 0.063 seconds. En route to his second win of the season, Blaney had to fend off a three-wide battle with Carson Hocevar and Bubba Wallace on the final stretch.
Reflecting upon the same, Blaney shared his thoughts in a post-race interview with Above the Line Media
“Bubba and I got hooked up on the bottom,” said Blaney, “I think the 20 and Bubba and then both of us kind of broke clear, and Carson was way out there, and we just had a massive run on him. Picked whatever lane was available. He kind of shaded bottom so I didn’t want to kind of get jammed up on the bottom. So I just tried to get to his right rear and no one was able to do that.”
“So yeah, those runs are massive. You know if you get two guys they are hooked up coming at you fast. They’re big, they’re hard blocking and he did a good job of not making kind of a foolish block. You just got to pick a lane and stay there,” he added.
Ryan Blaney walked away with a mammoth 75-point haul after Sunday’s race. He now stands third in the standings and is poised to clinch his Chase spot with six races left in the regular season.
Meanwhile, Bubba Wallace got penalised for advancing his position by dropping below the double white line. He went from second to 29th after the costly punishment.
Carson Hocevar, who led the field on the white flag, finished a respectable third behind JGR’s Christopher Bell.
Ryan Blaney credits Christopher Bell for Atlanta win
Ryan Blaney gave his props to Christopher Bell for pushing him to the checkered flag. Notably, Bell began outside the top-30 and ended up among the top-5.
“I really have to shout out Christopher Bell being right on my bumper through [Turns] 3 and 4 and a big push. He was a big reason why we won the race, so I appreciate that, Christopher,” Blaney said post-race (via NASCAR’s official website).
Ryan Blaney’s win marks Ford’s 750th triumph in the Cup Series. He’s also the driver to earn the last six wins for the OEM.
Christopher Bell moved up a spot in the standings after his runner-up finish. He now ranks ninth with 551 points to his name.
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