Despite leaving Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway with an impressive collection of points, Ryan Blaney was unable to capture the victory.

Blaney has a significant lead of 32 points over the elimination zone going into Charlotte’s Round of 12 cutoff race.

He was in contention for the whole of the race and won the first stage at Talladega. But in the end, Chase Elliott was managed to eke out an advantage and claim the triumph. At the finale, there was only 0.046s separating the two racers.

He will have to wait another week in order to become the 20th different NASCAR Cup champion of the 2022 campaign.

On the last resumption, Blaney lined up in front of teammate Ford racer Michael McDowell after spending most of the latter part of the race working with Ross Chastain.

“I was fine lining up bottom or top, honestly, working with Ross (Chastain) there for a while,” said Blaney. “I knew he pushed good and I knew obviously Michael (McDowell) could push really good, too. So, I didn’t really care where we were gonna be lining up. I got a good push there and was able to get too good of a push on the restart and got the 9 (Elliott) clear and then he was able to lead the top lane. I had a couple chances to move up to the top and cover it and I was just getting nervous about getting hung in the middle with the 9, the 43 (Erik Jones) and the 1 (Chastain) lined up.

“I just didn’t feel comfortable going up there and trusting, I trust Chase, but not that much to where he wouldn’t have hung me out for the greater good of his group, so just chose to stay on the bottom with Michael. We had a great chance at winning the thing, but we got disconnected in the middle of three and four. I don’t know if the 11 (Denny Hamlin) laid off of him, but we disconnected and let the 9 and 43 get a big run. Mine was just kind of a little bit too late. I’ll look at it probably pick at a few things I probably should have done different, wish I would have done different, but it’s easy to say that now. Overall, it was a decent day. It just stinks to be that close to our first win of the season.”

The Team Penske racer reflected on his past performance and considered what he might have done better to secure the victory.

“I think the only thing I probably would have done different is, one, realize that the 11 (Hamlin) was laying off the 34 (McDowell) in the middle of three and four and faded back with them,” he said. “It just happened really quick and then I probably would have coming to the checkered – if we would have won or not, I don’t know – but got back to the bottom – kind of do the fake high, go low, but he was watching and I was kind of far back. I think it was gonna be too little too late anyway, but a couple things.”

Only once, when he was in the lead and almost collided with Brad Keselowski, did Blaney willingly drop back to the pack. At Talladega, the 500-mile race was fairly orderly, which is remarkable. A total of 33 of the 37 starters finished the race, and there was only one multi-car accident. Blaney and probably many others in the field on Sunday were very surprised by that, too.

“Honestly, yeah, with how hard we were pushing each other and some big shots there,” he said. “I mean, I was full cross arm locked a couple times. I think everyone’s gotten better at this speed of taking pushes and what to expect. I think everyone’s gotten more skilled and knowledgeable about it. You still have to be careful what you do, but it just shows that we can push real hard and not really cause any big wrecks, even though I thought we should have had some today. It’s good we didn’t. We had one early, but it was never a big one.”

Blaney acknowledges that he thought about points briefly over the last two laps of the race. He got totally focused on winning as the green flag was raised.

“I had that thought before the restart and then we got going green and you turn into race win mode,” he explained. “For a moment I was like, ‘It would be good to line up on the front row and see what we can get. I just don’t want to get turned.’ But, I forgot all about that. I just wanted to win the race.”

The lone racer remaining without a victory in the playoffs is Blaney. At Daytona International Speedway in August 2021, he earned his most current Cup Series win.

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Ryan Blaney, Talladega Superspeedway, Chase Elliott, IndyCar, Nascar, NASCAR Cup Series, Xfinity