No. 12 Menards/Moen Ford Mustang – Ryan Blaney
Start: 6th
Race Finish: 26th
Stage 1 Finish: 2nd
Stage 2 Finish: 15th
Laps Led: 17
Point Standings: 2nd (-125)
Race Rundown: Ryan Blaney and the No. 12 Menards/Moen Ford Mustang had a stellar day ruined by a late-race spin in NASCAR overtime, relegating the veteran driver to a 26th-place finish in the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard. Blaney slipped back to eighth in the opening laps as cars beat and banged all around him on the tight infield road course. Early on, the Menards Mustang lacked rear grip, but there wasn’t much tire falloff during the first stage. With others pitting, Blaney stayed on the track and finished the first stage in second. Blaney stayed on the track once again during the stage break and took the lead when the race resumed and led nearly the entire second stage until coming to pit road for the first time with two laps to go in the stage. At the start of the final stage, Blaney wasted little time driving his Menards/Moen Mustang to the front, taking the lead on lap 51 before coming into pit on lap 54 for fuel only. Once all cars cycled through their final stops, Blaney found himself running second for the latter part of the race on tires much older than those around him. Several late cautions forced NASCAR overtime, and Blaney found himself on the bad end of a spin going into turn one. By the time he got the Menards Ford righted, he ended up 26th at the checkered flag.
Blaney’s Thoughts: “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.”
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
