Ryan Blaney opens up on NASCAR error that still haunts him

Ryan Blaney might be a NASCAR Cup Series champion, but the Team Penske star is still haunted by an error years before his title-winning antics.

The incident occurred at the Daytona 500 in 2020, where Blaney was running second in the race in the closing laps, still in with a shout of victory.

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However, in the No. 12 Ford, the Team Penske star made what he describes as 'not the right' move, a subtle but costly misjudgement that saw him remain in the runner-up spot.

“The 2020 Daytona 500, I’d say, is tough,” Blaney explained on the Chasing Checkers podcast earlier this season.

“That’s the one [Ryan] Newman and I got together. We were running, coming down to the end of this race, the Daytona 500, our biggest race of the year, and I’m second coming towards the lead coming off turn four.

“I kind of don’t make the best move probably, not the right one, and end up not winning the race.

“That one haunts me to this day.”

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Ryan Blaney on dealing with NASCAR setbacks

Denny Hamlin went on to win the Daytona 500 that day, with Blaney finishing P2 in NASCAR's crown jewel event for the second time in his career, having also been runner-up in 2017 to Kurt Busch.

The Team Penske star is philosophical about the wrong decisions he makes, however, and says that he tries not to go crazy thinking about every little error.

“Make a different move at the end of the race, like choose a different option, like a different lane, it’s a split-second decision, that’s why I try not to like go crazy thinking about that stuff," Blaney continued.

"I try to learn from it right away, like spend half an hour on it, figure out ‘okay if you’re in this spot again, think about this, do this', and then just move on from it, because if I go to sleep thinking about it, I’m never going to stop thinking about it.

“So I have to be over it that night, and then I can wake up the next day like it’s a new week and let’s just move on from it.”

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