Sunday at Talladega was yet another forgettable day for reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney. The day started with promise, as Blaney led six laps early and finished 10th in Stage 1. He was well in contention for the Stage 2 victory, but then—because it’s Talladega—everything fell apart.
Blaney, running second as the pack charged toward the green-checkered flag, found himself the victim of a classic superspeedway disaster. Alex Bowman, in a moment of questionable decision-making, gave Blaney a shove from behind, sending him careening into the outside wall just in front of Ross Chastain. While Blaney’s day wasn’t over just yet, Chastain’s certainly was. His smoking Chevy came to a lifeless stop between Turns 1 and 2. Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano also got caught up in the melee but escaped with minor damage.
Blaney, clearly unimpressed with his Ford’s newfound “accordion” shape, tried to soldier on. But after a few labored pace laps, his day came to a grinding halt. Frustrated and fuming, Blaney pointed the finger squarely at Bowman.
“Yeah. I don’t know if he ever lifted,” Blaney said with a mix of disbelief and anger. “He just drilled me from, like, three car lengths back. The worst possible spot to do it, so it’s pretty dumb on his part, and it figures he gets away scot-free as usual. That’s the end of the day.”
The only sliver of consolation Blaney had? He somehow slid across the line sideways to finish eighth in Stage 2, grabbing a few meager points while the car self-destructed.
“We were probably still going to run fifth or sixth, and then the 48 just drove straight through me in the tri-oval,” Blaney said. “He just wrecked the shit out of me. I don’t know what he’s thinking.”
To his credit, Bowman who finished the day 16th, later took responsibility.
“Just overall kind of disappointed in myself,” Bowman said. “I made the wrong move a lot, and I crashed the No. 12 (Blaney) with just a crappy push. Obviously just trying to push him to try and help our lane for the Stage and just hit him in the wrong spot. I hate that I did that. I hate that I made the wrong decisions that I did, and I didn’t do a very good job today. Frustrated because we had a really good Ally Camaro today. The team did a really good job, and we obviously had moments where we were really good. But just execution-wise, I made too many mistakes and put us in too many bad spots. Obviously hate that I ruined some other guys’ days too.”
In a cruel twist of irony, Blaney became the first Playoff driver on the day to record a DNF, his seventh this season—a career high for the defending champion. It also marked his third DNF in the last six races. He entered Talladega with a 28-point cushion above the cutline, but after this debacle, he’s not feeling too confident ahead of the elimination race at Charlotte’s Roval next week.
“I don’t have good hope right now, to be honest with you,” Blaney admitted. “We didn’t get very good stage points, and obviously, we’re last, so we’ll just see where it is at the end of it.”
And with that, Blaney’s playoff hopes hang in the balance—thanks to Talladega chaos, a Bowman bulldozer, and the unforgiving grind of NASCAR’s postseason. He could take a bit of comfort after it was over as the infamous Talladega Big One with 5 laps to go swept up 28 cars several of those Playoff contenders limiting the damage to his points position. He leaves Talladega 25 points above the cutline and hoping for a clean quiet day next week in Charlotte.
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" 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, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.