Ryan Blaney had a terrific opportunity to close the gap to the top four in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs and couldn’t quite take full advantage of it.
Heading into the final lap of the Straight Talk Wireless 400 in the lead, all he needed to do was hold off a fast-charging Tyler Reddick.
Reddick charged around the outside and put a magnificent move on Blaney to snatch the win in the dying stages.
It’s a severe dent to the Team Penske driver’s hopes, where a win would have thrust him right into the fight to make the Championship 4.
Ryan Blaney ‘not fired up’ for Martinsville
Making the Championship 4 is a bit of a long shot now for Blaney, who needs to overcome a 26-point gap at the final Round of 8 race in Martinsville.
He has taken fewer wins [2], than anyone else in the top seven of the standings, and is in a win-or-go-home situation now.
Even then, he may need some results to go his way on top of that – it’s not the most motivating of situations as he revealed to RACER.
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“I’m not fired up right now for Martinsville,” Blaney said. “I’ll take the night to replay a couple things and figure out what I could have done better. Tomorrow morning, we’ll re-stack and get ready for Martinsville.
“I’m excited, though. I’m super excited about the speed we had today. I can’t complain about that. Last week’s speed was great, too, before we got in the wreck. Hopefully, we bring that same speed to Martinsville.”
Who must Blaney beat to make the Championship 4?
There are three drivers who are high on the list of who Blaney must beat to ensure that he has the best chance of making the final four.
Kyle Larson, Tyler Reddick and Denny Hamlin are the three guys ahead of him in the standings that he could surpass with some luck.
Passing Hamlin won’t require much to go his way, but that wouldn’t be good enough to make the final race and still be in contention.
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He has to dig deeper and beat one of Larson or Reddick out too to scrape through in third or fourth place.
It’s an unlikely scenario and is partially why he’s so down about being beaten by Reddick at Homestead-Miami, but he won’t let such a situation unfold again if a Championship 4 spot is on the line…