Astute pit-road gamble ends in heartbreak for Ryan Blaney at Indianapolis Road Course

The story of Ryan Blaney’s 26th-place finish in the Verizon 200 at The Brickyard exemplifies the fragility of a strong run in the NASCAR Cup Series. The No. 12 Team Penske group did everything right, and in the closing laps on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, Blaney was in position to race for a win. Until he wasn't. A spin in Turn 2 following the one and only overtime restart Sunday took Blaney out of contention. Asked after the event what happened, and still fuming with frustration, the 28-year-old claimed he had “no idea.” MORE: Full race results | Reddick scores overtime victory Nobody can blame Blaney for his bewilderment. These things happen quickly. In one moment, he was fighting for a top-three position, and in the next, he was staring at the grass on the inside of Turn 2 with A.J. Allmendinger’s front bumper pounding against his driver’s side door. Entering Turn 1, Daniel Suárez dove low on Blaney’s right side. But when Suarez was shoved from behind, he slid into Blaney, who at that point found himself three-wide between Suárez and Allmendinger. Blaney ultimately ran out of space and spun off Allmendinger’s right front. Overcome with indignation, Blaney’s crew members in the immediate aftermath of the incident prepared for a potential pit stop. It never came. The crew’s final action of the day was their stop on Lap 53, when crew chief Jonathan Hassler made what would have been the call of the race had the late spin not occurred. With Blaney running third, more than six seconds behind the leader Reddick, Hassler gambled. He decided not to add four fresh Goodyear tires to Blaney’s Ford Mustang, only providing fuel. In theory, this would allow Blaney to gain valuable track position on Reddick and potentially race for the win. Hessler had to imagine luck was on his side, because Reddick and second-place driver Christopher Bell pitted on Lap 51. A caution between those stops and Blaney’s would have ruined Hessler’s plan, and despite a Brad Keselowski spin, the yellow never flew. Save for a stall when Blaney pulled out of his pit box, the plan worked to perfection. Blaney re-entered the track in second place with a far greater chance to contend with Reddick. In explaining his call, Hassler noted the team learned in practice there was a possibility tires on the Indy road course would not be as crucial as expected, but their limited pre-race laps left some doubt. Still, the team was prepared. “We showed early on in the race that the tires didn’t mean a ton,” Hassler explained. “We were in a position where we could wait for [Reddick] to pit, and if he took four, then we’d have a chance to jump him with fuel only. So we gambled and did that. “Didn’t work out quite like we wanted, but we were in position there late in the race.” Blaney said his older tires were not a factor in the closing laps of the race thanks to multiple restarts; three cautions interrupted the race over the final 22 laps. So with track position on his side and no notable disadvantages in the condition of his car, all Blaney needed was the same luck that helped get him to such a favorable position. He received the opposite. That rapid moment was the difference between what could have been Blaney’s eighth top-five finish of the season and what it became — his fourth finish outside the top 10 in the last five races. Blaney actually gained a spot in the Cup Series standings with his run at Indy; he jumped Ross Chastain for second place. That’s the silver lining to an otherwise crushing road-course result. The No. 12’s performance proved once again that a team and driver can do seemingly everything right, only for everything to go wrong.