INDIANAPOLIS -- Ryan Blaney was angry after getting bumped from third to 26th on the final restart Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, intentionally spinning Daniel Suarez on the cooldown lap.
After bumping against the No. 99 Chevrolet of Suarez through the exit of the right-hander, Blaney’s No. 12 Ford spun on the entry of the Turn 2 left-hander after being hit in the left rear by the No. 16 Chevy of AJ Allmendinger (who had been squeezed off course and over the curb into the grass).
Blaney was on older tires than the field after taking fuel only on his final pit stop, but he said that wasn’t the reason for his incident.
REDDICK WINS: Another road course victory for Richard Childress Racing driver
“No, it’s a case of just getting wrecked,” he said. “That’s all people do at the end of these things, just dive in there and wreck you. I don’t know who shoved who and I don’t care, but tires didn’t matter at the end. We restarted top three both times, and tires don’t really matter. It’s just a matter of getting through on the restart, but, apparently, that’s a hard thing to ask.
“People just run over each other.”
It was the second consecutive year the Indy road course has been used in NASCAR’s premier series after a 28-year run on the 2.5-mile oval at the Brickyard. Both races on the layout through the infield have produced late yellows that set up overtime finishes.
Blaney led twice for 17 laps and was able to capitalize multiple times on restarts to make ground on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course.
“I got up through the middle one time and the middle never really opened one of the last couple restarts,” Blaney said. “I was protecting right, and I guess whoever it was behind me didn’t care. I don’t know.
“They jumped over the curb and just wipe you out. I just didn’t even have a shot at it. I didn’t have a shot to get to the 8 to try to put the bumper to him or anything like that, just get wiped out. I don’t know. I’m pissed off about it and I have every damn right to be.”
Blaney still moved up a spot in the regular-season standings to second, 125 points behind Chase Elliott.
With four races remaining in the regular season, 14 of the 16 playoff spots are filled by drivers with victories. Blaney is the highest-ranked winless driver in a provisional playoff spot, 25 points ahead of Martin Truex Jr. on the cutoff line.
With his second career @NASCAR Cup Series win, @TylerReddick moves up to fifth on the playoff leaderboard.
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 31, 2022
Meanwhile, Ryan Blaney and Martin Truex Jr. added more points above the cut line between them and Kevin Harvick. pic.twitter.com/eUBGF34Pzp
