NASCAR: Blaney gets must-win in Martinsville
Ryan Blaney took the checkered flag Sunday afternoon at Martinsville Speedway, scoring his third win of 2023 and punching his ticket to the Championship 4.
Blaney will join Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson and William Byron in the quest for the title next Sunday at Phoenix Raceway.
It’s the first time the driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford has reached the Championship 4 in his career. Blaney led 145 laps en route to his first bid to the title race.
Denny Hamlin was the first driver left out of the Championship 4. He led a race-high 156 laps and won Stage 1 but was outdueled by Blaney from Stage 2 and missed out on punching his ticket to Phoenix by eight points to Byron.
Aric Almirola, who recently announced he would not return to Stewart-Haas Racing next season, finished second. Hamlin finished third, followed by Chase Briscoe and Joey Logano. Larson, Bell, Chris Buescher, Austin Cindric and Todd Gilliland rounded out the top 10.
Buescher, Martin Truex Jr. and Tyler Reddick were also eliminated alongside Hamlin on Sunday.
Ryan Blaney
Ryan Blaney punches his ticket into the Championship 4. Blaney will race for a title this year. Welcome to the Championship 4, Ryan. What is the significance of doing it at your home racetrack, Ryan?
RYAN BLANEY: Yeah, it’s awesome. I grew up in High Point, not too far from here. Closer to High Point honestly, Martinsville than Charlotte. Really cool. Wanting to win here for a long time. Been super close for many years. Awesome to close it out.
With all the talk this year of the struggles for Team Penske, how did you come to life in the Playoffs?
RYAN BLANEY: Well, I mean, felt like we put together really strong Playoffs. Especially the Round of 8, we had a good run in the whole Round of 8.
Yeah, just overall really proud of the whole effort. Awesome to have Discount Tire on the car, Menards, Ford, Advance Auto Parts, BODYARMOR, DEX Imaging, WURTH, Wabash, everything they do. It wouldn’t be possible.
RP couldn’t be here, unfortunately, but I know he’s watching. This is awesome. Can’t wait to get to Phoenix next week.
Martin Truex Jr.
Martin Truex Jr., a well-deserved seat on pit wall here. Man, it looked like early on you had a car that could contend. How much different was the game once the speeding penalty happened?
MARTIN TRUEX JR.: It’s completely different. If we couldn’t find a way to flip track position pit stop-wise, we were never going to get there. Our car was good. The field is so tight, so close. Your car drives so much worse in traffic.
I felt like we did really good to get back to where we did. You just burn the tires off so much worse back there in the hot, dirty track, dirty air. You’re in more rubber. It’s just a dogfight.
I don’t know. We gave it a hell of an effort. I felt like we had a really strong car. I don’t think we could have beat the 12. He was really, really strong. We were definitely close.
Something to work on for next time. Really disappointed. I mean, I thought I was well under speed leaving that box. Clearly we were speeding, so… Obviously we have something to look at there. It’s devastating. That’s racing.
Before the Playoffs started, you said it feels like 2017 all over again, we can win any week. How do you start to put your arms around what happened to you guys after winning the regular-season title?
MARTIN TRUEX JR.: Man, I think it just shows how tough this sport is. Anybody that races here and guys that have raced here that do the broadcasts, they’ll tell you. It’s this close, man. You find this little bit, and suddenly you look like a hero. Some other guys find some stuff, suddenly you’re not.
We’ve been fast at times, but execution hasn’t been solid, hasn’t been consistent. We’ve had some bad luck. We’ve had a little bit of everything. Like I said, some years it feels like it’s your year, some years it feels like it’s not. I just feel we couldn’t do anything right.
If it was ever a 50/50 call, it always went against us. A blown engine, a flat tire, you name it. Problem after problem.
Just kept setting us back, and we couldn’t get no momentum. I think we did a great job today. It was a tiny little error, .2 miles an hour can ruin your whole year unfortunately.
Denny Hamlin
Denny Hamlin, came to this race 17 points below the point line, finished third in the race, it still wasn’t enough to advance. Where did it go wrong for you guys today?
DENNY HAMLIN: The mechanical failure last week with the power steering, that sealed our fate.
Really proud of this whole FedEx Toyota team for showing up today when we really needed to, having probably a mid 50-point day. They did great. They did absolutely great.
The 12 car was the best car today, so congrats to them. All the Final 4 that made it. It’s going to be great. Hate we’re not in it with our FedEx Camry. Definitely I was happy with the performance we had today. Really all around.
Just in the Round of 8 you can’t have one bad week. Unfortunately mechanical failure takes us from running really well to in the 30s. That’s it.
What’s the emotion like, not getting that opportunity?
DENNY HAMLIN: Man, I just want to get ready and go try to win next week. I still love it so much ’cause every week I feel like I got a shot to win. That’s what fuels my passion, even at my age, to keep doing this, is I’m with the team that I got that gives me such fast cars every week and gives me a chance to continue to pile on those stats before the end of my career.
It’s not over by any means. We got a long way to go. Really happy about the year in general. I thought substantially faster this year at all racetracks than what we were last year.
It’s racing, right? This is the Playoffs. You got a three-race season. The 12 car showed up this round, right? He deserves to be in that Final 4. The performance they had today was phenomenal. I’m just happy for those guys. One more week.