Defending NASCAR Cup Series Champion Ryan Blaney explained his decision making process regarding the final lap at Homestead-Miami Raceway and admitted he made the wrong move.
Ryan Blaney via Bob Pockrass on X
Follow a late-race restart Blaney was able to expertly maneuver past Denny Hamlin as the two were coming to the white flag and take the lead. Going into the first turn Blaney drove through the middle while Denny Hamlin took the high side and Tyler Reddick went all the way to the bottom. Reddick was able to slip past Hamlin and claim the second spot coming out of turn 2 and heading down the back stretch.
Blaney chose the middle again going into turn 3 and that left the top wide open for Reddick who dropped the hammer going into the turn and blew past Blaney like he was Ross Chastain riding the wall at Martinsville.
Three drivers, one win and one ticket to the #Championship4.
This is the finish everybody is talking about. #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/B7diXlTqIJ
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 28, 2024
Immediately following the race, Blaney shared his thoughts, “It was kind of hard to protect there into 3 and I thought I kind of entered fast enough to protect against the slider and against the top move and he just-. Tyler just blitzed it on in there and got to my right side, and I was like, ‘Oh my god!’ I didn’t think he was able to do that and he made it work. Some things I would have changed up, but, yeah, I look forward to Martinsville. It’s been a pretty good place for us.”
He added, “It stings to end it today like it did. I’m gonna be sad about it tonight, but tomorrow morning we’ll be fully focused on Martinsville and ready to go. Looking forward to that place.”
Even @Blaney couldn’t believe @TylerReddick made that move. #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/oaGwkduDwi
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 28, 2024
Now, a few days removed from the race, Blaney shared he simply made the wrong move. He told Bob Pockrass, “When I got home Sunday night I rewatched the whole race and rewatched the end of it. I lost some sleep over the end of that race.”
He continued, “I mean, it’s so easy to go back and watch it from the broadcast or relive it in your head of like ‘well, gosh, if I just would have done this different, it would have been a different outcome.’ But that’s easy to do, like, in the moment, it’s really hard to make the right decision. You’re making decision every lap. You’re making a lot of decisions every lap. And I look back on that, and I talk about in some scenarios, whether it’s speedways or end of these races things whether you’re leading or second or whatever, you’re guessing in some situations, on what lane is going to be better, where the car in front of you is going to go, where the car behind you is going to go. You’re guessing. And sometimes you guess right, sometimes you guess wrong.
He then admitted, “Really, in that scenario I guessed wrong on where he was going to go. And, yeah, I wished I would have done something different. The whole last lap. I didn’t get through 1 and 2 very good. That started there. And then I didn’t get to the right lane in 3 and 4. I just guessed wrong on what he was going to do. And he did a great job of kind going where I wasn’t and carrying just a ton of entry speed to get there and it stuck for him.”
Ryan Blaney admits he has lost some sleep over the Homestead finish but he is trying not to stew over it and what he could have done differently. pic.twitter.com/xfXmDZlBVI
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) October 30, 2024
Blaney also informed NASCAR.com, “I can only speak on pro sports because I am a part of one and I watch a lot of others, and it’s like, when I watch a football game, I’m like, ‘why didn’t he just do that?’ … In the moment, when you’re that person and you’re that athlete, or living in that time, it’s so much harder than being on the outside and watching on TV with all different angles and things like that. You’re making real-time decisions in the moment. You don’t have any time to like process, think about it, go through all the options. It’s boom, boom, boom. It’s all happening super fast.”
He added, “You’re never going to be batting 1.000 for making the right decision, the right call and that’s what the difficulty of sporting is, is can you make the right decisions? And how often do you make the right decisions?”
Finally, he explained his decision-making process, “In my mind, going down the back, I’m seeing the run that he’s got down the back, and the timing of it, I’m like, ‘OK, I think he might pull a slider here.’ That’s what I kind of made my mind up on is that he was going to pull a slider and I was just going to kind of enter where I did and slide up the track. If he did pull a slider, maybe I can pull under him or where I kind of entered I was like ‘well, I’m going to cut a little distance off the race track here to where maybe I can still be on his outside if he did pull a slider and I can drive back around him.’ It was just the wrong move.”
Ryan Blaney via USA Network
What do you make of Blaney’s explanation?