Bad pit stop derails Ryan Blaney's chance at first Cup victory

Blaney won the first two stages of Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500, leading 148 of the first 172 laps and out-dueling veterans Jimmie Johnson and Martin Truex Jr. in the process.

But in the most important part of the race, which determines the winner, Blaney struggled with issues on pit road which left him mired in traffic on the track.

He ended up with a 12th-place finish but did score the fourth-most points in the race (45) and collected two playoff points.

Losing all his track position

After capturing his win in Stage 2, Blaney was forced to pit before the start of Stage 3, sending him back to 20th on the ensuing restart. He had worked his way back to fifth when he pit under caution on Lap 300 of 334 but he slid through his pit stall and restarted the race in 15th.

“That last pit stop was pretty discouraging,” Blaney said. “I don’t know what it was there at the end of segment two that made everybody have split strategies and we got in the back and couldn’t pass anybody. It was terrible to try to pass people.

“We made our way up to seventh or eighth and then pitted and I got into our box too long and we were wedged in between two cars. I was over the line by a few inches. That sucked. I put us in that hole.”

A tough call

A caution late in Stage 2 left a perplexing decision for many teams – pit now and lose points for a top-10 finish in the segment or stay out and try to earn the points and possible stage victory.

Blaney’s Wood Brothers’ team decided on the latter. In hindsight, Blaney said it may not have been the best decision, but it’s easy to second-guess decisions after the fact.

“We thought we had enough time after Stage 2 to try to work our way back up through (the field) and the restart actually really went bad for us,” Blaney said. “We got jumbled up in (Turn) 1 and 2 and let a lot of cars go by. That was kind of the deciding factor I feel like.

“I let a lot of good cars get by like (Johnson) and (Kyle Larson) and (Chase Elliott), and that hurt us more, I think, than anything.

“I think we made the right call to stay out (late in Stage 2) and try to win that segment. I’m for that.”