Ryan Blaney addressed the costly mishap by John Hunter Nemechek that derailed his In-Season Challenge run at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. While he acknowledged Nemechek’s post-race apology, Blaney couldn’t overlook his loss to Todd Gilliland.
Entering Sunday’s Brickyard 400, Blaney was poised to clinch the bracket-style tournament with a 13th-place start. His rival, Gilliland, began outside the top-30 and had the odds stacked up against him.
However, luck favoured the FRM driver when Blaney got turned over by Nemechek on lap 120. The Penske ace got into the outside walls and ultimately finished two spots behind Gilliland in 26th.
In a post-race interview with Dalton Hopkins, Blaney shared that Nemechek personally apologised for the incident, saying,
“Well, he apologised and said he messed up. Apology’s nice but it still happened and cost us a lot of money.”
When asked about the damage sustained from Nemechek’s move, he said,
“Wasn’t great. I don’t think it helped us obviously but I don’t think it hurt us to a killer extent.”
Ryan Blaney’s spin turned into a nine-car wreck that left Riley Herbst dropping down the order. 25th-seeded driver Todd Gilliland walked home with a $1 million paycheck after surviving five weeks of the 32-driver knockout bracket.
Todd Gilliland comments on Ryan Blaney’s surprising pace after wreck
After his final-stage wreck, Ryan Blaney came down pit road for repairs and joined the field in 30th. Despite the setback, the No.12 driver remained hot on the heels of Todd Gilliland.
Reflecting upon the same, Gilliland said (via NBC Sports),
“I saw (Blaney) spinning up top, and I thought that was at least a chance for us. I was very surprised how fast he still was after that. He was right on my bumper. There was one car in between us, but fairly close for the last 25 laps or so. It was nerve-racking for sure, but it’s great to feel those nerves racing for something meaningful, and it was cool. I think my team deserves this, for sure.”
“Life is good as Todd Gilliland right now. There’s weeks and months and years in this series that will beat you down, so you just really have to enjoy the good times,” he added.
Ryan Blaney’s wreck changed the course for the frontrunners as well. In the ensuing restart, Corey Heim claimed the race lead over Denny Hamlin and won the race altogether.
Christopher Bell finished runner-up for the sixth time this season, while Hamlin rounded out the top-10 and extended his lead over tenth-place finisher Tyler Reddick by 84 points.
Blaney trails in third with a 120-point deficit. The Penske driver has clinched his Chase spot with four races remaining. His teammate, Joey Logano, jumped two spots to land 13th after finishing third on Sunday.
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