Ryan Blaney pit crew member details fuel issue that decided Gateway

Ryan Blaney had the checkered flag in his grasp during this past Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway until he didn’t.

Blaney, who inherited the lead during the final round of green flag pit stops, came around Turn 4 with two laps remaining holding a sizable lead over Team Penske teammate Austin Cindric. But as Blaney got set to take the white flag, his No. 12 Ford ran out of gas. Instead of getting his first win of the season, Blaney finished P24. Cindric, meanwhile, passed Blaney and took the checkered flag.

Ryan Flores, tire changer for the No. 12 team, said on Corey LaJoie’s “Stacking Pennies” podcast this week that it was a miscalculation of how much fuel was in Blaney’s tank that cost them the race.

“It was just the calculations,” Flores said. “And there’s so much that goes into that. I looked at Twitter once and it was, ‘Everybody needs to be fired!’ But there’s so much that goes into that. Look at fuel density. Look at how much hotter it was when we raced than when we practiced. Like, you’re talking 10 to 20 degrees, and then that changes the density of fuel. That factors into your fuel mileage.

“We were a quarter of a gallon short. So, a quart of oil, that short of gas. And really, we all thought that we were good, and it was just a mere miscalculation.”

Heartbreak for Ryan Blaney, No. 12 team at Gateway

Though it didn’t work out, Flores doesn’t regret the aggressive approach they took on the final pit stop to give Blaney a chance to race for the win. Flores said they “executed flawlessly,” but ultimately came up a lap short of making it.

“But you had to be aggressive like that,” Flores said. “Everybody’s like, ‘Should’ve taken more gas!’ It’s like well at the time, you could only go off of what we think is right, we had to get in front of the 2 car on pit road, you weren’t gonna pass him on the racetrack. We executed flawlessly, aggressively which is what we needed to be and at the end of the day, we come up a corner and a lap short of making it.

“It’s gonna sting for a little while, but at the same time if we aren’t that aggressive, we just run second? Like, it’s better than running 25th but — and who’s to say, I don’t know, I haven’t been back to the shop, I haven’t talked to anybody. Who’s to say there wasn’t some fuel in there and the pickup didn’t grab it. At the end of the day, it sucks.”

Blaney, the reigning Cup Series champion, now sits 12th in the points standings. His season up to this point has been unlucky, which remained true on Sunday.

“Never thought in my mind we were short, but it’s one of those things,” Blaney said. “I’m proud of the 12 boys. … I had my work cut out for me holding out Christopher [Bell]. That was a fun battle. I don’t know what happened to him.

“One lap short. It just stinks, but congrats to the 2 team. They did a good job all day. Props to them. …Really happy with our showing today. I don’t know what I got to do to get some luck on our side. Wrecked the last two points races and I thought we had a great shot to win today and ended up bad.”