Despite Crash, Ryan Blaney Had One of His Best Darlington Runs
6 months agoRyan Blaney is not particularly known as a great Darlington driver, as he's never finished better than eighth and has only led laps in two races. However, this past weekend in the Goodyear 400, he was on pace for one of his best-ever runs there before being eliminated in a lap 129 crash. Blaney started 17th but pitted long on the green-flag pit cycle during Stage 1, which enabled him to make a series of passes and finish eighth in the Stage. He was in a three-wide battle for fourth with William Byron and Martin Truex, Jr. when Byron touched Truex, which sent Truex into Blaney and Blaney into the wall. Although he had minimal cosmetic damage, a broken toe link took him out due to the damaged vehicle policy and he finished last, but his good run prior to that indicates that Blaney will likely have better runs at Darlington in the future.
Source: Racing Reference
Source: Racing Reference