Ryan Blaney laments losing Homestead-Miami win in NASCAR playoff battle

Ryan Blaney fell one spot shy of an automatic bid in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Championship 4 after finishing second to Tyler Reddick in the Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Reddick's win secured him an automatic berth in the Championship 4 at Phoenix, while Blaney sits 38 points under the minimum score heading into this weekend's Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

“Yes, disappointing. I had a good chance to win it and I didn't have a very good last lap. I thought I came into the third round hard [Tyler Reddick] “I just went in and it stuck with him, which is really impressive,” Blaney explained.

“I hate to put something like that out there. I don't know if we gave it away. We regained the lead after losing it on the restart and only the last lap didn't work out for us. I appreciate everyone who is there.” I would like to thank the 12 team for bringing me a really fast race car. I had a really good chance to go to Phoenix and I still have a chance, so we have to look forward to that.

“I'll probably spend all night thinking about what I should have done differently. That’s just how it is, but I’m really proud of the achievement and hope we can show it to you next week.”

The disappointment of second place at Homestead-Miami Speedway may not be long in coming for Blaney and the No. 12 team as the final race of Round 8 of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs takes place this Sunday at Martinsville. As things stand, Blaney is one of four drivers below the cutoff line who made it to the fourth championship in Phoenix.

Chase Elliott is currently in eighth place, 43 points below the cutoff line, followed by Blaney (-38 points), Denny Hamlin (-18 points) and Kyle Larson (-7 points). With only two open spots remaining, held by Christopher Bell (+29 points) and William Byron (+7 points), Blaney will likely need to win at Martinsville to qualify for Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway.

“Yeah, I mean it’s going to suck for the evening, then we’re looking forward to Martinsville tomorrow morning,” Blaney said. “We try to forget things quickly. I've tried this more and more as I've gotten older, to move on to the next thing, good, bad, or indifferent, and concentrate on the task at hand. This team will do it.”

“Yeah, we got lucky in Martinsville last year. Hopefully we can reach the same speed and fight for the win.”