Driver ‘kept having flashbacks’ after giving up lead on final lap
BRISTOL, Tenn. — Ryan Blaney said he “didn’t sleep a lot Saturday night” as he played the ending of the NASCAR XFINITY Series race over and over in his mind.
“I kept having flashbacks of Turn 2 and that’s not what you want to do,” the Wood Brothers Racing driver said Wednesday during a break in testing at Bristol (Tennessee) Motor Speedway.
“Especially when you have a (Sprint) Cup race the next day; especially when it’s the Brickyard … your Brickyard debut.”
Blaney is scheduled to compete in 18 Sprint Cup Series races this season for Wood Brothers Racing. The 21-year old is also running select XFINITY and Camping World Truck Series events this season for Team Penske and Brad Keselowski Racing, respectively.
After leading 24 of the final 25 laps in Saturday’s Lilly Diabetes 250 at IMS, Blaney lost the lead to race winner Kyle Busch on the final trip around the legendary 2.5-mile track.
A two-time winner in the XFINITY Series, Blaney was looking for his first trip to Victory Lane this season. Instead, it was Busch’s second win in the series since returning from injuries suffered in the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway.
A miscue by Blaney – he missed his mark as he and Busch rolled into Turn 2 – opened the door for Busch, who shot underneath the leader to take over the top spot on the backstretch.
“I thought about it all the way up until I got in the race car (on Sunday), then I forgot about it,” Blaney said of the misstep.
His Sunday run in the Crown Royal presents the Jeff Kyle 400 at the Brickyard likely helped ease the disappointment. In only his eighth start of the season (rain kept the team out of two events when qualifying was cancelled), Blaney raced his way to a 12th place finish.
“You just have to put that stuff in the back of your mind and forget about it,” he said. “The support that not only Team Penske showed me, but the Wood Brothers and other competitors has really helped me out.
“You can only take away the learning experience from it, learn not to do that the next time.”
Blaney and the Wood Brothers were one of 13 teams testing Wednesday at BMS. NASCAR returns to the 0.533-mile track next month for the Aug. 22 running of the Irwin Tools Night Race.