Ryan Blaney was so close to winning Sunday’s Brickyard 400 — twice — he could almost feel the cold metal of one of the NASCAR Cup Series’ most desirable trophies.
Blaney was running second in NASCAR’s return to the oval track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, trailing Brad Keselowski on Lap 159 of a scheduled 160. Keselowski was so short on fuel that he was all but certain to run out before the finish.
Blaney, who drives for IMS and Team Penske owner Roger Penske, was biding his time behind his fellow Ford driver when Kyle Busch’s Chevrolet pushed up the track into Denny Hamlin’s Toyota, slamming Hamlin’s car into the outside wall and causing the eighth caution of the race.
For the ensuing restart, Keselowski chose the inside lane and Blaney the top. But as the cars approached the restart zone, Keselowski followed the pace car to pit road, out of fuel.
Eventual race winner Kyle Larson, who had lined up third behind Keselowski in the bottom lane, move up beside Blaney for the restart and pulled ahead into Turn 1 before a multicar wreck in the corner stopped the action again.
As the new race leader, Larson had control of the final restart, chose the inside lane and cleared Blaney into Turn 1 in the second overtime.
Pole winner Tyler Reddick followed Larson into second place, and that’s the way the race ended when NASCAR called the 10th caution for Ryan Preece’s spin on the backstretch—after Larson had taken the white flag.
“It’s no fun,” Blaney said of his disappointing third-place finish. “Had a really good shot to win today. Our car was fast. Thought we had really good strategy. Kind of was the front guy having to save a little bit of gas. I thought we put ourselves in a great spot.
“I know the 6 (Keselowski) was probably going to run out if it went green. Came to the restart, I couldn’t believe they stayed out. I knew there was no way they were going to make it. So, I obviously chose the top because he might run out in the restart zone. He runs out coming to the green, so he has to go to pit road, and the 5 (Larson) gets promoted.”
Even though Larson moved up to the front of the bottom row, Blaney’s No. 12 Ford was the control car as the second-place vehicle to Keselowski. But Keselowski’s exit from the track and the subsequent restart happened so fast it made processing the situation difficult.
“Luck of the day right there, I guess,” Blaney said. “I don’t know. I don’t know what to be mad about. Mad at losing this race, because I thought we were in the perfect position. Once I lost control of the race, obviously I would have been on the bottom (for the final restart), but I thought the 6 would run out in the restart zone or down the back… I don’t know. Stinks to lose in that way.
“Appreciate the effort. I hate we don’t get to celebrate with Mr. Penske and everyone at Penske here. That stings a lot. Just try to keep going. That’s all you can do.”
Blaney, the defending Cup Series champion, lost his chance at a third win this season, but he’s firmly locked into the Playoffs. Still, a victory would have been a perfect sendoff to a two-week break in the schedule to allow for the Summer Olympics in Paris.
“I’m just upset,” Blaney said. “That’s a heartbreaker. We did everything right today. I mean, was in prime position to win and just didn’t work out for us. Just got unlucky.
“Gosh, not going to sleep very good tonight, I can tell you that. Like I said, I appreciate Team Penske and everybody for the fast car. Gosh, we’ve been super-fast. It definitely showed again today. Just wasn’t meant to be.”
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