Ryan Blaney was set for a big day at Iowa Speedway on Sunday.
Starting on pole, Blaney had an opportunity to make another big push up the NASCAR Cup standings with a win at the short track.
Blaney had a good day, leading for 129 of 350 laps — more than any other driver in the field — but ultimately finished third. After winning the first stage of the race, Blaney battled near the front through the middle stretch of the action, but when it came time to race for the checkered flag, it was a two-man battle between Christopher Bell and Ty Gibbs, with Blaney trailing by a few seconds.
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In his post-race interview with Blaney, Dave Burns referred to a pit stop in the middle of the race where he opted for four tires over two, losing him a bit of track position — was that moment the start of him losing his grip on the lead?
Blaney had no interest in using it as a potential excuse.
“I don’t think so. It set us back a little bit, but I thought it was going to play out pretty good,” Blaney said. “The 20 and the 54 were definitely better than me in the second half of the race.”
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Even without the win, Blaney had plenty of positives to take away from Iowa.
“Overall really good weekend. Good practice, qualifying, and strong showing in the race,” he said. “It’s nice to get a good finish here even though it’s not a win. Pretty decent day.”
Watch: Blaney: ‘Nice to get a good finish’ after strong Iowa run
Blaney’s third-place finish was enough to put him ahead of Tyler Reddick, whose day was over just a few laps into the race. But despite jumping Reddick, Blaney had to settle for holding on to third place in the season-long standings for now, as Ty Gibbs’s win was enough to leap frog him past both Reddick and Blaney and into second place with just three weeks left before the start of the Chase.
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Heading into Richmond this week, Blaney remains confident with where his team is at, with another track that should play to his strengths.
“That place has been good to us recently. Looking forward to seeing what we can do.”
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