Skip to main content
Join Now
NASCAR Logo

Ryan Blaney chirps Michael Jordan after Denny Hamlin Darlington win

FaceProfileby:Thomas Goldkamp•04/06/25
NASCAR
Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Images

What looked like a fairly ho-hum race at Darlington turned into a dandy down the stretch, courtesy of a late caution. Kyle Larson hit the wall, sending the race to overtime after Ryan Blaney had taken the lead and looked to be cruising to the win.

Blaney had the lead and the fastest car on the track at the time, shortly after overtaking William Byron. He looked to have the win in the bag.

Then, Larson got loose after contacting Bubba Wallace and hit the inside wall. The caution flag came out.

Blaney was a little slow coming out of pit road, ending up on the second row of cars behind Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick. He wouldn’t be able to make up the difference, and he finished the race in fifth after the overtime segment.

Following the race, Ryan Blaney had some choice words for Michael Jordan on the track. Jordan, of course, is an owner of 23XI, the team for Wallace and Reddick.

“Hey, if your boy didn’t spin out Larson it would be…” Blaney said. His voice trailed off, leaving the implication hanging.

Jordan responded in kind. He played it cool.

“Did he spin out Larson?” Jordan answered, before walking away. “I couldn’t tell.”

You can watch video of the interaction below. It’s an interesting little bit of drama from a race that had very little of it up until that final caution brought out by Larson.

What’s worse for Ryan Blaney is that Larson was already 171 laps down at the time of the crash. He had been involved in a Lap 4 wreck and had spent a long, long time in the garage before eventually returning to the track and making minimum speed.

And after the restart, Hamlin jumped out in front of Reddick and coasted to the win. It was his second win in as many weeks, following last weekend’s victory at Martinsville.

Byron had led the overwhelming majority of the race, but he lost the lead position on a green flag restart and was never able to recover it. He finished second in the race, according to unofficial NASCAR results.

All in all a disappointing finish for Ryan Blaney. He seemingly had the win, then it was no more. And it will only lead to more questions about his pit crew on the restart.