By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
Though Stewart-Haas Racing owned the day Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway, guys like Ryan Blaney had some good days going in terms of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
A regular face in the top 10, Blaney returned to a plate track with speed, spending much of the day tagged with Team Penske teammates Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski.
The final laps, however, proved treacherous for Blaney, who ran out of fuel as the field came to take the green with two laps to go. With the restart coming in overtime, Blaney’s No. 12 — along with Keselowski’s No. 2 — couldn’t make the extra distance.
Blaney’s initial frustration came from NASCAR after they extended the caution period following a crash in Turn 4. Extra laps that cost Blaney the fuel to finish.
“We were going to restart fifth and be good, but NASCAR decided to run three extra laps under caution to run everybody out of gas,” Blaney said. “I don’t know what they were doing.”
The extra stop placed Blaney 29th at the checkered flag.
“We fought really hard all day,” he said. “We were going to have a great day. I thought we saved enough. Such a hard day of work ruined the last two laps. An unfortunate end to the day.”
Blaney enters the elimination weekend at Kansas now 22 points outside the cutoff zone.
“I figured we were way out,” he said. “I’m guessing we have to win so that’s what we have to go do.”
Blaney has three top fives in the last five Kansas races and led 54 laps in the spring event this year.