For the second time in 2022, Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney has criticized driver aggressiveness on road courses. He specifically called out the “dumba**” moves that led to a lot of chaos during the Cup Series playoff race at the Charlotte Roval.
“All of the playoff guys stayed off of each other,” Blaney told media members after the race. “It’s everyone else who just runs everyone over. It’s always the case when you come down to these road courses. It happens every time, and you just get destroyed. You get run over. It’s what happened to me today.
“The same thing happened at Indy. Guys just completely destroy you. No reason. Running 15th, you ain’t going to win the race. You’re not going to go drive up there from 15th and win the race, so why are you plowing through the field and wrecking everybody and making yourself look like a dumba**?”
CHAOS.
No other word for it. Cannot even begin to describe the carnage.
@chaseelliott spins from 2nd, @KevinHarvick takes the lead.
BUT, the biggest storyline… @CBellRacing is in 2nd on FRESH TIRES!
Blaney, who finished 26th but moved on to the Round of Eight, said that the emphasis on restarts, as well as the long stretch heading into Turn 1, played a role in the aggressive driving and the chaos. He also said that it was a bad look for the sport overall.
“Give enough room, try to not barrel it into the chicane and get hooked in the left or right rear,” William Byron said after the race. “Certainly, just not how you want to race there at the end, but it was just crazy racing with the green-white-checkered and the way that guys are able to get into each other, make contact, guys spin out, and the track gets blocked. It just gets wild there at the end.”
The First 2 Stages of the Cutoff Race Were Clean
GettyRyan Blaney survived the Round of 12 at the Charlotte Roval.
The aggressive moves were not prevalent throughout the playoff race. They didn’t actually surface until a piece of signage led to a late caution with single-digit laps remaining. This is when a wide variety of drivers began slamming into each other and sending each other off of the track.
Austin Cindric was involved in some of these incidents. He hit Noah Gragson’s No. 48 from behind on the first restart, which sent it spinning into Michael McDowell’s No. 34. Cindric also made hard contact with the rear of Brad Keselowski’s No. 6 and made it miss the corner.
“I would not recommend doing restarts with 30-lap older tires compared to everybody else that have less grip,” Cindric said after the race. “It was just crazy and being only a couple spots ahead I was fighting for everything I had. My driving standards were probably a little bit lower than I usually like keeping them, but just desperate at that point. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
“We were in a really great position before that first green-white-checkered,” Cindric continued. “We had a few spot margin and had a decent gap behind. The caution came out and I felt like that sealed our fate in some ways. Even then, I was one point out and needed the spot and tried to get it. I didn’t get myself clear and it was just a mess on the back chicane, so, overall, definitely some things I feel like we could have done better to execute today, but I definitely feel like we could have some more progress with the car, but, otherwise, great to be part of it and have a shot.”
There Will Be Drivers Keeping ‘a List’
GettyChase Elliott was on the receiving end of a hit from Tyler Reddick.
A common thread throughout the 2022 season is that there are several drivers who have promised payback. There will likely be more after the Charlotte Roval race considering that Blaney mentioned putting some people “on the list.”
Blaney now joins a list of drivers that have issues with others. Some have been vocal while others have kept their anger quiet. This also includes Denny Hamlin, who has mentioned multiple times how he owes payback after incidents during the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
“You’ve got guys that were onesies, twosies that were gonna barely make it and when you have desperate situations like that, people just send it and it ends up to be a mess,” Joey Logano said after the race. “I’m sure there are a lot of scorecards that everybody kept today and I didn’t dump anybody, so that was great. No one’s mad at me.”
Will these drivers with “lists” do anything about them during the Round of Eight? This is unlikely considering how much is on the line. Stacking points and pursuing a spot in the championship four is more important than delivering payback. Blaney, in particular, can express happiness about the lack of road courses in the penultimate round as he tries to reach the championship four for the first time in his career.
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Ryan Blaney Rips ‘Dumba**’ Moves at Charlotte Roval