MARTINSVILLE, Va. – 2.9 seconds.
This was the gap differential Ryan Blaney had to leader Kyle Larson as the No. 12 Team Penske driver passed William Byron for third with 42 laps to go.
Forty-two circuits may seem like a long time but at Martinsville Speedway Sunday evening, it took 15 minutes to get to Lap 500.
In those 15 minutes, Blaney made a hard charge at Hendrick Motorsports teammates Larson and Chase Elliott to erase the 2.9-second difference, took the lead with 14 to go and grabbed the checkered flag for a second consecutive season to punch his ticket to the Championship 4 in walk-off fashion.
When Blaney moved to third, he was unsure whether he had the time to run down both Larson and Elliott but was banking on lapped traffic to be his last gasp.
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“When I got to Byron, the 5 [Larson] kind of seemed pretty far away and I didn’t think I had a ton of laps left,” Blaney said. “But I tried to keep in mind like they’re going to catch the back of the pack and they’re going to slow down a lot because it happens every run. Honestly, I just like beat into my brain of just saving rear tire for that moment, because I used up rear tire trying to pass the 6 [Brad Keselowski] earlier in the race when I ran him down pretty quick, and I just had no rear tire left to pass him, so I just tried too hard.
“I just tried to stay disciplined, knowing they would back up to me and I needed something to try to pass those guys and have something on corner exit. I didn’t know if I was going to get there. I knew there was a shot and really my focus was just saving rears in case I did get a chance. I’d be able to capitalize on it like I wasn’t able to with the 6 because I burnt my stuff up. It was a long way back we came from. But I think saving a little bit there and being mindful of rears when I got to traffic allowed me to be a little bit more versatile when I got to those guys.”
Blaney had a bit of a tussle with Larson for second as the defending Cup Series champion moved the No. 5 in Turns 3 and 4 to take the spot.
Larson fought back with a shot to the rear of Blaney the following lap as payback but Blaney held his ground and took off for Elliott.
With Elliott and Blaney the bottom two in the playoff table entering Sunday’s elimination race, both needed a victory to advance and it looked as though they would have to beat and bang for the win as a packed grandstand watched under the lights. Blaney, however, was able to get a huge run off Turn 2 on Lap 486 and get to the inside of Elliott down the backstretch to complete a clean pass on the 2020 champion to take the lead.
While having a relatively clean race despite fenders rubbed, Blaney described his fatigue after climbing out of his hot rod to a roaring crowd.
“My God, I was tired. Still am. Most worn out I’ve been, for sure,” Blaney emphasized. “We stuck with it all night. It’s nice when things work out like that for you. I laid the bumper to more guys than I would have liked tonight. I guess fight, determination and the drive was great. How much time we made up is awesome. You can make up that time when your car is really good and we got our car really good. It makes me look like a hero, but at the same time [crew chief] Jonathan [Hassler] and those guys did an awesome job of getting us where we need to be. So definitely a joint effort.”
Compared to last year’s triumph, Blaney had to dig a little deeper to have the drive after last week’s heartbreak at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Saying “I feel like the mental side is the toughest thing about our sport” days before making the trek to Martinsville, the payoff Sunday equated to one of the defining moments in Blaney’s young career, as he’ll now carry momentum to the championship race next Sunday.
Blaney will duke it out in the Arizona desert for a second Bill France Cup against regular-season champion Tyler Reddick, William Byron and Team Penske teammate Joey Logano, a two-time series champ.
With a string of highs and lows throughout 2024, including four DNFs in a seven-race span from Daytona to Talladega in the playoffs, Blaney has stopped the timer from winding down to zero on his title hopes and come next Sunday, will look to have the clock strike 12 once again.
“This 12 group is just dogs, man,” Blaney said. ” I mean, we’ve dealt with a lot of adversity through the year. Ups and downs and getting wrecked and getting caught up in BS that’s not our fault. And everyone kind of overlooks this group, to be honest with you, especially in the playoffs. Like, we’ll have a good week and then we’ll get wrecked the next week … and we have a decent week, and it’s just the ups and downs. This team has been fantastic all year. Just hasn’t been the smoothest of years. But it’s cool to go to battle with them every week, and looking forward to go into battle with them again next week.”