Kyle Larson says he ‘messed up’ in contact that spun Ryan Blaney at WWT Raceway

MADISON, Ill. — Kyle Larson said he “messed up” in making contact with Ryan Blaney, causing Blaney to spin with about 100 laps to go as they raced for fifth place in Sunday’s Cup playoff race at World Wide Technology Raceway.

“That’s one I’ve got to remember,” Blaney said on the USA Network broadcast.

Blaney, who recovered to finish fourth, came over to Larson after the race to find out what happened.

“I just said I messed up,” Larson said he told Blaney. “I just misjudged it. Obviously, I’m not trying to ever wreck anybody on purpose, especially at the midway point of the race. I just misjudged kind of where my right front was and the timing of all that.”

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Larson and Blaney had been dueling for position late in the second stage before the contact that led to a caution at Lap 136 of the 240-lap race.

“The lap before (the contact) I was able to get to his door and get him tight,” said Larson, who finished 12th. “Next time I was trying to do the same and wasn’t going to get there, so I was going to try and tuck back in line and just clipped him. I’m sure he should be upset. I just misjudged it.”

Blaney on Larson contact: ‘One I have to remember’

Ryan Blaney recaps his conversation with Kyle Larson after getting turned during the race, but he is proud of the way he rebounded to secure a fourth-place finish in St. Louis.

Said Blaney after talking to Larson: “I just wanted to get an explanation if he did it on purpose or not. He said he didn’t. I mostly believe he didn’t mean to do it, but at the end of the day I still got spun around.”

Blaney was surprised he was even in that situation.

“He’s got 50 feet underneath him of race track,” Blaney said of Larson. “I was as high as I can go. It surprised me pretty hard when (spotter) Timmy (Fedewa), all of a sudden was ‘left rear, left rear” and I got turned around. Surprising.”

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• Nate Ryan,

Blaney rallied to score a top-five finish and is 42 points above the cutline heading into next weekend’s cutoff race at Bristol. Larson is 60 points above the cutline.

“Proud of our comeback after getting spun around and then coming back and running fourth,” Blaney said. “Really good resilience.

“Overall a decent day.I would have liked to have had a little more pace. I didn’t think I ever had winning speed. Fourth to fifth was probably the best I was going to run.”

#NASCAR … Ryan Blaney came over to Kyle Larson to find out why Larson made contact with him and spun him. Larson said he told him: “I messed up.” pic.twitter.com/CYiARMRspi

— Dustin Long (@dustinlong) September 7, 2025