If Ryan Blaney wants another NASCAR Cup Series championship trophy, he’s going to have to fight for it with a bent fender and a bruised ego.
Las Vegas Motor Speedway hasn’t exactly been the city of luck for Blaney. He rolled off 14th — the worst starting spot among the playoff drivers — and the No. 12 Menards Ford never really looked like it had the pace to threaten the front. Still, Blaney was doing what Blaney does best: being patient, keeping his powder dry, waiting for the chaos to start ahead of him.
Then, chaos found him first.
On lap 71, as he lifted into Turn 3, the right-front tire let go and turned his Mustang Dark Horse into a bright yellow missile aimed straight at the wall. The impact was violent, the kind that makes you wince even on TV. He somehow coasted the mangled car back toward pit road, where the frustration finally spilled out over the radio:
“I can’t drive it to the garage; they’re going to have to haul this piece of shit out of here.”
And that was that. Blaney climbed out, helmet off, race over.
It marked the third straight Las Vegas race where he’s finished 32nd or worse — a stat that, if Vegas bookies were taking bets on bad luck, would be a sure thing.
Asked afterward if there was any warning, Blaney shook his head.
“No, I didn’t have any thoughts that it was gonna blow. As soon as I lifted into three it blew out.”
The reigning Cup champion now faces the brutal truth: to make the Championship 4, he’ll have to claw his way through two of the most unforgiving tracks on the calendar — Talladega and Martinsville. One’s a high-speed demolition derby. The other’s a half-mile knife fight in a phone booth.
“I hope so,” Blaney said when asked if he could rebound again. “It’s unfortunate we’ve got to be in these spots, but we’ve got to bounce back.”
If anyone can, it’s him. He’s done it before, limping out of disasters like this only to storm back into title contention. But even he admits it’s getting old.
“I’m not overjoyed, I tell you that. We’ll have to come from behind like we did last year. Hopefully, we can win one of the next two weeks. We just can’t have a smooth day it seems like.”
Blaney’s trying to keep the faith. He knows he’s been strong at both Talladega and Martinsville, and the optimism still flickers somewhere beneath the helmet.
“You’ve got to be optimistic. I’m not very happy right now, but tomorrow morning I’ll be optimistic to go to the next race. We’ve had good success at the next two events, so hopefully we can come and bring the speed and try to overcome the hole we put ourselves in today.”
Still, there’s no sugarcoating it. When asked if it’s now must-win territory, he didn’t hesitate.
“Yeah. No doubt.”
For Blaney, Las Vegas remains less “City of Lights” and more “City of Blown Tires.” Whatever curse lives in Turn 3, it’s got his number.
“If I knew, I’d try to figure it out,” he said. “But I have no idea.”
Huge playoff implications on Lap 72! @Blaney has trouble and gets into the wall. pic.twitter.com/MoCg5bEGHx
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 12, 2025
Greg was a writer for DriveTribe supporting Amazon's The Grand Tour and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, and a Masters degree in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek and a regular contributor to Forbes.
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