Blaney “felt like I was going to faint” after the title fight

Ryan Blaney got here back almost three seconds back to challenge teammate Joey Logano for the race win at Phoenix and the Cup Series championship, but he simply ran out of time to get the job done. By the checkered flag, he was 0.330 seconds shy of becoming the subsequent NASCAR Cup Series champion and was exhausted. The AMR safety team taken care of him within the pits after the race.

“I was tired, man,” Blaney said. “I was riding hard, huffing and puffing, and I felt like I was going to pass out after the race. I've been working hard trying to narrow the gap. There were a lot of similarities to last week, but I just didn't quite nail it this week.”

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William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports, Joey Logano, Team Penske, Ryan Blaney, Team Penske, Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing

Photo: NASCAR Media

The critical moment got here on the restart on lap 259, when William Byron was on top of things with two of his Hendrick Motorsports teammates behind him. While Logano made an excellent pass for 3 goals, Blaney remained trapped behind two Hendrick drivers. This proved to be the winning moment as Logano never relinquished the lead

Blaney battled hard with Kyle Larson after which Byron, but by the point he passed them each, Logano had a 2.3-second advantage with just over 20 laps to go.

“I just got exhausted,” Blaney said of that crucial restart. “I took sixth place. Personally, I believed the highest row was probably the higher row and I used to be just put in a weird aerodynamic spot. Lots of guys showed up before me in 1st and 2nd and Joey sort of got upset. sure, after which I only got to fourth place.

“That was the result. It's just that Joey took the lead pretty quickly with the best way the restart went, and he did it. By the time I settled in I used to be fourth and needed to work hard to get through 5 and 24, I hit Joey and I had nothing left. I spent every part on this automotive.

“I knew when I was chasing him that I would get there, but when I got there I had nothing. When you get in dirty air and they start kind of guessing where you're going, it just makes it that much more difficult. Yep, just a reboot. If I had been closer, if I had finished second, I wouldn't have had to work so hard and come back so far, or maybe I would have made it. I had a slightly better shot.”

I just needed to get out front

Although overtaking was difficult, Blaney was one among the stronger drivers in the long term, which allowed him to do higher than most by getting deep into the corners. But against a clean-air driver, it was never enough.

“I just… wish I had ever taken control of the race. Like I never got the lead. I got the lead once and I believe the green flag stopped or I took the lead at the tip of stage 2, stage 2 ended after which I got the lead back – well I finally passed Joey and he took second on stage 3 when the green flag cycle happened, Bell he pitted, I got here out in second place – I just never got the lead.

“I felt like if I got the lead, I would leave. But it didn't work out. The car was great and Jonathan and those guys did a great job getting us where we needed to be.”