Martin Truex Jr. blames Ross Chastain for Indy wreck: ‘As usual’
Another hard day for Martin Truex Jr. at the track. Truex was wrecked after contact with Kyle Larson and then the outside wall. The NASCAR champion is retiring this year and this is not how he wanted his final Brickyard 400 to go.
On the restart to begin the final stage, Martin Truex Jr. apparently had an incident with Ross Chastain. Then, the 19 was side-by-side with the 5 of Kyle Larson. The two made contact, Truex lost control, went up out of the groove and into the wall.
Even though the contact with Larson sent him into the wall, Truex was blaming Ross Chastain once he sounded off on the radio.
“[No.] 1 car, just shoved me out of the way, as usual,” Truex said on the radio afterward.
While the replay didn’t show any contact between the 1 and 19 cars, there is a chance something happened earlier in the lap. These restarts are so incredibly physical. There likely was a ton of contact, so I can’t blame Truex here. He knows what happened.
What won’t make this wreck any better, Ross Chastain made his way to the lead not long after this. So now Truex has to limp this car around Indianapolis while Chastain rips away laps in the lead.
Martin Truex Jr. blames Chastain, Ryan Blaney shades Hocevar
A big wreck coming immediately following a caution sidelined Joey Logano and Jimmie Johnson, but Ryan Blaney was the first one involved in the wreck and came out really no worse for the wear.
Blaney checked on his team radio after the wreck to see what happened, and his response will not surprise many in NASCAR.
According to Davey Segal of Sirius XM, Blaney asked who it was that got into him going into Turn 1 and he was informed it was Carson Hocevar.
“Ha,” Ryan Blaney said. “Yeah that doesn’t surprise me.”
He wasn’t finished there, either, critiquing Hocevar for his driving quite pointedly.
The wreck took place when the cars were getting ready to head into the turn, going two wide across the track. Hocevar pushed to make it three wide, getting some space between two other cars.
But he had nowhere to go, eventually making contact with Blaney’s left rear and sending him angling into Logano. Logano went straight into the wall and collected Johnson with him.