NASCAR star bemoans reasons for losing out to Kyle Larson at Kansas

Ryan Blaney has bemoaned his misfortune in Sunday's race at Kansas, in which he finished third behind Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell.

The race was Blaney's second straight third-place finish and his fifth top-five finish this year, but is yet to visit victory road and lock in his playoff spot for the fall.

A prominent feature of Sunday's race was Larson and Bell falling off at the end of stages, in Larson's case due to some heavy wear on his right-side tires, but a series of quickfire cautions late on allowed them to preserve some tire wear and fuel.

Speaking on pit road after the race, Blaney claimed that if the race had gone just five laps longer he could have given Larson a challenge for the win.

Blaney: It took a lot for my car to come in

The 31-year-old appeared positive despite his failure to win, expressing pride in his team and bemoaning his position at the final restart.

"Yeah, overall good day," he said. "I think we were third in both stages and finished third, and honestly we were kind of running those guys down quick there at the end the last handful of laps. I just kind of restarted too far back and had to make up a lot of ground.

"It took a lot for my car to come in. I think five more laps, I think I probably would have scared the 5 a little bit at least.

"But no, really proud of the 12 boys today. Appreciate the Worth Group being on board for it, Menard’s, Bodyarmor, Dex Imaging, everybody. Really good last couple weeks bringing fast race cars. Hopefully we can continue to do that, keep learning and move forward, but overall a really good weekend."

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