Ryan Blaney comes up short in fuel gamble at Watkins Glen
Ryan Blaney was leading the 'I Love New York 355' at Watkins Glen International with less than five laps to go, but he didn't lead the lap that mattered most.
Ryan Blaney, Wood Brothers Racing Ford
Russell LaBounty / NKP / Motorsport Images
The 23-year-old took control of the race with three laps to go when then-leader Brad Keselowski pitted for fuel. Unfortunately for Blaney, his fuel situation was not nearly as good as he thought it was. Later that same lap, the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford started to sputter and he was forced into the pits.
“I stumbled down the back coming to two to go, so we wouldn’t have made it," he explained. "It stinks. I wish I would have saved earlier like the 78 did. I pushed hard and thought we were better to go on gas than they were. They did a good job saving. I could have done better. If I would have started saving sooner I think we would have made it. you never know."
While Martin Truex Jr. went on to capture his fourth victory of the 2017 season, Blaney finished eighth.
And despite missing out on what could have been the Wood Brothers' 100th Cup victory, Blaney remained positive after the race. "I am pretty proud of the effort. We got up front at the beginning of the day and stayed there pretty much all day. I thought our strategy was right and we had a good race car. Things just didn’t work out for us. That is just the way it goes sometimes.”
Beyond that, Sunday's performance showed just how much Blaney has evolved as a road course racer. In 2016, he finished 23rd and 19th at Sonoma and Watkins Glen, respectively. But this season, he scored top tens in both races. "I think here and Sonoma we ran (top ten) at both race tracks. That is miles ahead of where we were last year. That is always what you want. You want to just keep improving and getting better. That is really all you can ask for. I am pretty proud of us getting better. Hopefully we will keep improving as years go on.”
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