RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang – “I’m alright. I don’t know. I guess it kind of seems like the 54 got turned into me. The 20 shoved him and it was kind of just a weird spot I guess and I got right-reared, so not in a fun spot. It’s a shame. We had a fast car and came from the back to the front multiple times and thought we made a good move to try to win the stage and just can’t catch a break. Luckily, everyone is alright. We’ll go to next week.”
WHAT DID YOU SEE AND FEEL? “I didn’t see much. I saw a big white thing that I was headed towards at a rapid mile per hour and then it was over. I guess the 20 kind of got Ty in a weird spot it looked like and just got into my right-rear and off she went. It stinks to end our night that way. We had a fast car and definitely stinks, but we’ll go to next week.”
WERE YOU WAITING FOR IT TO HAPPEN? “Yeah, I thought it was gonna happen multiple times, but further back in the pack than what it did and not at the lead. There were plenty of times we were three-wide where the fifth row on back could have easily wrecked and we didn’t, and then it figures right when we get the lead I get wrecked, so that’s just the way it goes this day and age sometimes. We’ll just move on from it.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL? “I’m alright. It’s just a big hit. I’m happy it had a SAFER barrier on it. Yeah, that was large. It’s a big testament to the new front clips. That would have hurt a lot more if we didn’t have the new front clip on it, so that was a positive about that, but still pretty hard.”
DID THE DYNAMIC FEEL ANY DIFFERENT OUT THERE IN THE PACK THAN IT HAS WITH THIS CAR? “I don’t know, not really. I thought we saw a third lane kind of peek in there for a little bit. It seemed like there was more of a third lane than what it normally is for whatever reason. It would kind of surge and die, but it did seem like you could actually get going in it if you had the right guys pushing you, so, yeah, it was a little bit different dynamic. I think that’s just people getting to the front and there’s urgency to get there because you know it’s hard to do. It’s hard to get to the front. It’s the last race of the regular season and everyone is trying to be super aggressive and just taking all the chances and then eventually people are like, ‘alright, we’ve got nothing to lose, we’re gonna go with you,’ so it changes a little bit.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT DARLINGTON NEXT WEEK? “I feel a lot better than I do right now. I’m excited to get here to Darlington next week. We’ve been working super hard to get a little better at these racetracks and find some speed. Hopefully, we’re going in the right direction. It’s a hard race next week and it’s a lot about just running all 500 miles really, so hopefully we can do that and have no mistakes and have a good car.”
GLAD YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO WIN AND GET IN TONIGHT? “I’d be a lot more upset right now if that were the case. It just stinks. I still wish we were racing, but it’s nice to already be locked in. I don’t know who had to win is knocked out in that wreck. It seems like a good amount of people, but it is what it is.”
— Ford Performance —