Ryan Blaney was set for a giant day at Iowa Speedway on Sunday.
Beginning on pole, Blaney had a chance to make one other large push up the NASCAR Cup standings with a win on the brief monitor.
Blaney had a great day, main for 129 of 350 laps — greater than every other driver within the subject — however in the end completed third. After successful the primary stage of the race, Blaney battled close to the entrance by way of the center stretch of the motion, however when it got here time to race for the checkered flag, it was a two-man battle between Christopher Bell and Ty Gibbs, with Blaney trailing by a couple of seconds.
In his post-race interview with Blaney, Dave Burns referred to a pit cease in the midst of the race the place he opted for 4 tires over two, dropping him a little bit of monitor place — was that second the beginning of him dropping his grip on the lead?
Blaney had no real interest in utilizing it as a possible excuse.
“I do not assume so. It set us again somewhat bit, however I assumed it was going to play out fairly good,” Blaney stated. “The 20 and the 54 have been positively higher than me within the second half of the race.”
Even with out the win, Blaney had loads of positives to remove from Iowa.
“General actually good weekend. Good apply, qualifying, and powerful displaying within the race,” he stated. “It is good to get a great end right here regardless that it is not a win. Fairly respectable day.”
Watch: Blaney: ‘Good to get a great end’ after robust Iowa run
Blaney’s third-place end was sufficient to place him forward of Tyler Reddick, whose day was over only a few laps into the race. However regardless of leaping Reddick, Blaney needed to accept holding on to 3rd place within the season-long standings for now, as Ty Gibbs’s win was sufficient to leap frog him previous each Reddick and Blaney and into second place with simply three weeks left earlier than the beginning of the Chase.
Heading into Richmond this week, Blaney stays assured with the place his staff is at, with one other monitor that ought to play to his strengths.
“That place has been good to us just lately. Trying ahead to seeing what we will do.”
We wish your opinion!
What would you prefer to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
– The Motorsport.com Workforce