LOUDON, N.H. — Just one week after scoring his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2024 season at Iowa Speedway, Ryan Blaney looked to be well on his way to another top-three finish.
Until he wasn’t.
Blaney started outside the front row for Sunday’s USA TODAY 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and ran inside the top five for the majority of the day, both on dry and wet-weather tires.
The defending Cup Series champion lined up fourth, second in the outside lane for a restart with nine laps to go. Fourth seemed to be the place to be on wet-weather tires, with the inside lane consistently struggling.
This time, however, Blaney was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Seemingly desperate for a win, Michael McDowell restarted inside the front row, diving into turn 1 to try and steal second from Blaney on his outside.
In moments, a dive turned to a slide, which quickly turned to a spin as McDowell slid into the side of Blaney’s No. 12, sending the champ spinning in turn 2. Blaney went to the rear with just a few laps to go, crossing under the checkered flag in 25th.
The win at Iowa aside, this has been the story of Blaney’s season. Whatever it seems could go wrong has gone wrong, and this time he was on the wrong end of a late-race gamble from McDowell.
Despite a conversation with McDowell that included an apology from the driver of the No. 34, Blaney was none too pleased with the incident post race.
“I thought I was in a good spot being on the top,” Blaney said. “It was kind of dominant. I mean he said he was sorry, but he still wrecked me. He just sent it off in there with no intention of making the corner and spun both of us out. Very low percentage move that obviously didn’t work.”
Aside from the incident, Blaney was pleased with the wet-weather tires and how they raced on track, providing multiple groves of racing throughout the final 80 laps.
“I actually thought it was unique,” Blaney said. “I thought it was neat, kind of getting going. I was on the front row so I didn’t really know how hard to go into (turn) 1 there with (Tyler) Reddick. But I thought it was neat, they did a good job of waiting it out.
“We were going fast here, but I thought they could kind of handle it pretty good. As long as it’s just like a thin layer of water. You can’t really have standing water especially going this fast. I’m happy they stuck it out … I thought it was a success.”
Had the race been called back on lap 220 when the rains began to fall, Blaney would have brought home a second-place finish. Unfortunately for Blaney, Mother Nature wanted to see the end of the USA TODAY 301, and a strong day was drowned out by the late spin.
Even still, for Blaney to be happy with the performance of the wet-weather tire speaks volumes to both NASCAR’s decision push forward and get the race in, and Goodyear’s job well done with the tire itself.
Had this incident happened a week ago, while Blaney was still winless on the season, the reaction to the incident may have been a bit more intense. But it wasn’t; Blaney has that win and is locked in to NASCAR’s postseason.
Therefore, call it water off the back of the No. 12 car, no pun intended. Blaney and the No. 12 team move forward to Nashville and look to find victory lane again in Music City.
About the author
Chase began working with Frontstretch in the spring of 2023 as a news writer, while also helping fill in for other columns as needed. Chase is now the main writer and reporter for Frontstretch.com's CARS Tour coverage, a role which began late in 2023. Aside from racing, some of Chase's other hobbies include time in the outdoors hunting and fishing, and keeping up with all things Philadelphia sports related.
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Blaney’s run was ruined by the 34! Too bad about Bubba. Maybe he was expecting another gift win in the rain. But he did look sore after the hit he took.