DARLINGTON, S.C. — Ryan Blaney said he’ll save a payback to William Byron “for another time” after Byron’s actions led to Blaney hitting the wall and finishing last in Sunday’s Cup race at Darlington Raceway.
Blaney restarted sixth at Lap 129 when Byron went to the bottom in Turn 2, underneath Martin Truex Jr. and Blaney. Byron moved up the track and Truex got into Blaney, sending Blaney into the wall.
During the caution, Blaney came back on the track and drove next to Byron.
Asked why he didn’t hit Byron’s car, Blaney said: “I’m not going to hit him. I’ll save that for another time.
“I almost did on accident, actually. I got on the apron and the toe link was busted. I almost actually hit him when I didn’t mean to. I just wanted to show my displeasure, so we’ll see where it goes. I just wanted to show that I wasn’t happy. After watching the replay, I kind of deserve not to be happy. He used up some good track that I thought he didn’t have to use up.”
Asked what Byron shouldn’t have done, Blaney said: “One, don’t shove it three-wide at a place you can’t run three-wide. If he wants to do that, fine, but your responsibility is to leave room. You have to leave room for the top two cars.
“You shoved the bottom of three (wide), you have to leave space and he was off the dotted line until we were already wrecking. He faded up and sandwiched (Truex) into me.
“We’re as high as we can go, so it’s like, I don’t know if he thought he had enough room or gave us enough room and didn’t or whatever. That’s just what I was like, you’re responsible for those two guys when you shove guys three-wide. You have to act like two cars are to the top of you.”
After the race, Byron, who finished sixth, said of the incident with Blaney: “I felt like I was ahead of them. The exit is really narrow right there. I hate if I did come up a little bit. I was surprised I was even in that spot. I felt like I would never get to the bottom of a three-wide there, but the lane was there into (Turn) 1 and my car turned really good. I got almost clear of Martin and then yeah, I hate that it happened. I don’t want to crash, especially that early in the race, so I didn’t really expect that to happen. I probably could have given a little more room, it just gets really, really tight right there.”
Blaney started 17th. During the first stage, he was 18th before the green-flag pit cycle began at Lap 35. He was the last to pit during that cycle, stopping at Lap 45. With fresher tires in the second half of the stage, he drove up to eighth at the end of the stage.
#NASCAR … I asked Ryan Blaney why he didn’t hit William Byron when he came up on him under caution after that incident pic.twitter.com/fy68ec30ha
— Dustin Long (@dustinlong) May 12, 2024
#NASCAR … I asked Ryan Blaney what he was so upset about with William Byron on that restart. Blaney said … pic.twitter.com/37IDOjRr9h
— Dustin Long (@dustinlong) May 12, 2024
