Ryan Blaney reacts to last-lap pass by Tyler Reddick to win at Homestead

For a moment, it looked like defending NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney would win and advance to the Championship 4. Instead, he got beat on a last lap, last-corner pass by Tyler Reddick at Homestead-Miami.

Ryan Blaney seemingly gave up the high line on the track to Tyler Reddick. A strange decision given how fast the 23XI driver is against the wall.

After the race, Blaney was clearly thinking things over in his head. He can’t think too long because Martinsville is in a week.

“It’s obvious disappointment. I mean yeah I had a great shot to win. I didn’t have a very good last lap Man I thought I got into three hard and the 45 just blitzed up in there and it stuck for him which was pretty impressive,” Blaney said after the race on the NBC broadcast. “Yeah, I hate to give one away there like that you know. I don’t know if we gave it away. I mean, we got the lead back after losing it on the restart and just last lap didn’t really play out for us. So yeah, definitely stinks.

“I appreciate everybody on the 12 team for bringing a really fast race car. I had a great shot to go to Phoenix. We’ve still got one more chance. So, we still got to look forward to that.”

Again, a moment Ryan Blaney will be thinking about. But only for a night. He has to move on quickly.

“Just a shame. I’ll be picking through it all night,” he admitted. “What I should have done different probably, and that’s just the way it goes. Overall really proud of the effort and hopefully we can bring it to to them next week.”

Team Penske is hoping to get two drivers into the Championship 4. Blaney will have to win his way into Phoenix like he did a year ago.

“Uh, well, yeah, I mean it’ll suck for the night and then look forward to Martinsville, you know, tomorrow morning,” Blaney continued. “So, we try to forget things quick. I’ve tried to do that more and more as I’ve gotten older and just kind of move on to the next thing. Good, bad, or indifferent, and just focus on the next task.

“So, this team will do it. Yeah, I just can’t say how proud I am of them. Coming in and understanding what we needed to do. It’s just a shame it didn’t work out. Like you said, we had good fortune in Martinsville last year and hopefully, we can bring the same kind of speed and be in contention to win.”

With the pressure mounting, will Ryan Blaney be able to earn another walk-off win at Martinsville? Or will next week end in elimination?