Indianapolis (AP) — Ryan Blaney believed he was in a fantastic position to win the Brickyard 400 on Sunday.
He cruised down Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s front straightaway, leading the outside lane of vehicles to the second-to-last restart, fully expecting to take up the lead when race leader Brad Keselowski ran out of gasoline.
Instead, when Keselowski’s slowing vehicle drove off the track, Kyle Larson, who was racing third immediately behind Keselowski, came next to Blaney on the favoured inside line, completed the pass for the lead, and repeated the manoeuvre on the final restart to secure his first Brickyard triumph.
While Larson celebrated by kissing Indy’s famous yard of bricks, Blaney reflected about what had transpired and if NASCAR authorities should have acted differently.
“Yeah, call it off and reschedule (the lanes) because now you elevate the third-place man ahead of the second-place guy if the leader has issues,” Blaney said. “That isn’t correct. It’s simply dumb luck at this racecourse, where the bottom (line) is preferred. I’m simply upset. That’s a heartbreaker. “We accomplished everything correctly today.”
Larson stuck to the rules.The vehicles were already close or in the restart zone when Keselowski went off, and Cup rules prohibit altering the restart order, even if the leader slips out late. In reality, had the identical circumstance happened Another driver farther down the running order would have most likely done the same thing Larson did.
Blaney answered on his radio with a heated, vulgar diatribe, claiming Cup officials “handed” Larson the win.
But Blaney and Larson selected their positions in line for the same reason: they knew Keselowski was low on gasoline and intended to take advantage when he ran out.
“I was going to select behind him regardless of whatever lane he took because we anticipated he would run out before the restart zone,” Larson explained. “I was trying to pay attention to him, and he was cycling his motor, trying to clean and warm up his tyres, and then, yep, he just dumped off onto pit road I was thinking, ‘Wow, I can’t believe this is going precisely as we had anticipated.'”
Larson said that the subsequent scenario was puzzling. With the leader out, Larson claimed he wasn’t sure if his or Blaney’s vehicle was deemed the control car on the restart, and he didn’t know if Blaney could either. So Larson made his move, believing that two automobiles were accelerating almost simultaneously.
Elton Sawyer, NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition, said afterwards that if the race had stayed under caution for one more lap, existing regulations would have made Blaney the control car but would not have permitted him to change lanes.
“We had already gone through the pick process, so we were approaching green when (Keselowski) pulled off, allowing (Larson) to drive up and hand over control to (Blaney),” Sawyer told NASCAR’s digital platform. “It all occurs quite quickly. In retrospect, I believe we would have continued to let things play out as they did. “We’ll talk about it more.”
Sawyer and others now have a rare two-week Olympic break to weigh their options and determine whether anything needs to be amended or clarified.
Even if NASCAR modifies the regulation, Blaney will be unimpressed.
“I don’t know what to be upset about,” Blaney stated after finishing third. “I’m upset about losing the race since I believed we were in the best But I expected (Keselowski) to sprint out in the restart zone or on the back. “It stinks to lose it that way.”
Larson understood why Blaney was unhappy, but he also knew the rule. When asked if he would go another lap under yellow to reorganise the vehicles, he replied, “If I were in his place, maybe.” “It is not (possible) according to the regulation as written.”
And now the reigning Cup champion, who was looking for his first Brickyard victory and wanted to give team owner Roger Penske a sweep of the season’s two biggest races on the famed circuit he owns in Indianapolis, is left to wonder what could have been.”We got to the restart, and I could not believe they remained out; there was no way they were going to make it,” Blaney said, alluding to Keselowski. “I definitely selected the top because he may run out in the restart zone and end up on the green, so he goes to pit road and (Larson) is promoted. I suppose it’s the luck of the day right there.”
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