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Ryan Blaney was one of the fastest drivers at Darlington, but in the end, circumstances prevented him from reaching Victory Lane. It seemed like every time the Team Penske driver got near the lead, something would happen that would put him deeper in the field. Here’s how Blaney managed to salvage fifth, despite it all.
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First, there was an untimely caution in the middle of green-flag pit stops during the second stage of the race. Blaney pitted from third but ended up back in 14th, due to a caution for debris from Brad Keselowski’s loose wheel. He fought back quickly, charging back up to fourth by the end of the stage.
Bad luck wasn’t done with him yet, as a slow pit stop dropped Blaney all the way down to 20th.
Ryan Blaney, Team Penske Ford
Ryan Blaney, Team Penske FordJared C. Tilton/Getty Images
Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
Blaney once again marched through the field and made sure to have fresher tires than most of the leaders for the final run to the finish, pitting later than most. It paid off perfectly, quickly making up ground before finally catching race leader Tyler Reddick. He made the pass for the win with four laps to go, only for misfortune to rear its ugly head once more.
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A sudden caution for Kyle Larson, who was more than 160 laps down, pushed the race into overtime. On pit road, Blaney lost the lead and never recovered, finishing a disappointing fifth.
A winning car without any luck
Blaney’s reaction to the final caution: “Oh no. I thought we finally had the race won… We did a good job. Great strategy call of kind of running long, giving us time to get down, run down the 45, a lot of those guys that short pitted. It was a great call.”
Blaney had the car to win at Darlington, but he never had the right amount of luck. “Never really got to control the race. I feel like nothing ever really went our way. Pit road, we got to work on a little bit. Caution coming out during the cycle set us way back. I felt like we just kept making up spots.
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“Really proud of the 12 folks for giving me a fast car. Just really wasn’t meant to be. I really wanted and would have liked to have won here. That would have been really neat. Just wasn’t meant to be. Proud of the effort. We’ll keep plugging along.”
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