'A little too late' for Blaney to grab first Cup Series win at Bristol

Ryan Blaney lost Sunday afternoon’s race not in overtime at Bristol Motor Speedway, but before the final caution even flew.

“I slipped into [Turn] 3 and was up to the track, but was side by side with Ty [Gibbs], and that really hurt us,” Blaney said. “Yeah, a little too late.”

The final caution flew with four laps to go. It brought to a halt what had initially been a three-car battle of Gibbs holding off a hard-charging Blaney and Larson. Both of them were on fresher tires, having pitted under the previous caution on lap 477.

Blaney and Larson had been unable to decide, over multiple laps, who would take the runner-up spot. In the moments after Blaney had finally prevailed, the caution flew. The final restart battle saw Blaney on the inside of the front row alongside Gibbs.

“I got a good restart,” Blaney said. “I thought I got a really good restart, but gosh, the clumps on the bottom, it’s really hard to hit it right, and I got a decent first lap. I didn’t get a great [Turns] 1 and 2 the last lap … and I got a really good [Turns] 3 and 4 on the last lap. It just wasn’t quite enough.

“But I’m not going to throttle up and destroy someone. So, I thought I got a pretty good restart. I just wish I could have maybe gotten a better lap, but it was so hard to do. It was easy to miss, and I missed it.”

Blaney led 190 laps and was the leader before the second-to-last caution flew. There were 13 drivers on the lead lap at the time, and five of them stayed out while Blaney and Larson led others down pit road for a final round of tires. Larson beat Blaney off pit road.

But the Team Penske driver felt good about the decision to pit given how many laps were on the tires at the time. He restarted fifth with 15 laps to go before making the run to second ahead of the final stint to the finish.

“I’ll pick through a little bit, but it was so hard to hit the bottom in (Turn) 3 with pace,” said Blaney of overtime. “So many guys missed it all day and messed up. I’ll probably think about that corner more than any, but I don’t know if there was really anything I could have done differently. I had to commit, and I probably missed my entry by like a foot, and you miss the whole bottom and slide up, and it’s a handful.

“So, I’ll think a little bit about it tonight and forget about it tomorrow.”

Larson, who led a race-high 284 of 505 laps and swept the stages, said Blaney “by far” had the best car. But it was his pit crew who kept putting him behind. Fox Sports reported during Sunday’s race that Blaney had lost 86 spots on pit road thus far this season.

“We got to get better,” Blaney said. “We got to get better, for sure. If we’re going to keep competing and have cars that can win races and stuff, we’ve got to clean that up.”