At the Brickyard 400, the restart rule leaves Ryan Blaney wondering what could have happened

SPEEDWAY, Ind. – Losing the Brickyard 400 is hard to swallow anyway. When you feel like circumstances beyond your control take away a win in what is a NASCAR crown jewel race, it’s even harder.

Understandably, Ryan Blaney was upset after a third-place finish in Sunday’s race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The defending Cup Series champion’s problem, however, was that he wasn’t sure where to direct his anger.

He suffered a heavy blow on a circuit where every driver wants to kiss the stones in celebration. To win here is a significant achievement. And Blaney had come so close.

“I’m ticked off, but I don’t know who to tick off. Like there’s no one to rely on,” Blaney said. “It’s just racing luck.

“I’m just angry. It just sucks, man.”

The sequence that caused Blaney’s frustration began when Kyle Busch spun and crashed under Denny Hamlin as they entered Turn 3, sending the race into overtime while further pushing the fuel economy limits that many were already experiencing.

Among those in danger of running out was leader Brad Keselowski, who opted for an unlikely Hail Mary in the hope of making it to the finish, so he opted not to refuel during the caution period. Sure enough, just as Keselowski got to the start-finish line and the race was about to resume, his fuel tank went dry, prompting him to dart into the pits just as the field came out of Turn 4.

This moved Blaney into the lead, while Kyle Larson slid into second. But Blaney had already chosen the less favorable outside lane while Larson was now on the inside. NASCAR prohibits drivers from changing lane selection, giving Larson the advantage because if Blaney had the choice again, he would have chosen the inside lane.

Instead, even though Blaney was the race leader, he felt like he was essentially a sitting duck.

“It’s easy for me to say, if the leader runs out on the restart, swing off the green and pick again, because now you’re promoting the guy in third to where I get screwed,” Blaney said. “I’m the one getting screwed. So the guy in third place benefits, the guy behind me benefits.

“If it was any other place, it wouldn’t be so bad because you can keep the second lane, which you can use in all the other places. Here it’s just a death sentence. You don’t maintain the lead from the top in the front row.”

As Blaney expected, Larson capitalized and took the lead as they sped into Turn 1. It was a lead he was not willing to give up. Larson later noted that he specifically chose to restart directly behind Keselowski, hoping that he would move forward if Keselowski ran out of fuel.

“We had a lot of communication on our radio about (how) Brad was going to be very close to fuel, he could run out of fuel under these warnings,” Larson said. “I wanted to pick behind him, whichever lane he took, hoping he would run out before we got to the restart zone.

“Yeah, he just turned up on pit road. I thought, ‘Wow, I can’t believe this is going exactly the way we hoped and thought about.’”

Some wondered after the race whether NASCAR should allow a redetermination in such situations. It is not a question with a simple solution.

A notable hurdle on a 2.8-mile track like Indianapolis is the amount of time it takes for the field to re-select which lanes. The conditions that occurred Sunday are also not common enough to have NASCAR reevaluating the rule.

“I understand that this is being highlighted because it is this race, the situation, because it was on the front row,” said Cliff Daniels, Larson’s crew chief. “There have been so many times in cup races where we have seen that from fifth, tenth, twentieth place. (Today is no different.) Everyone knows this is the rule.

“Every other race series you fill the line, grab the green flag and move on. I just don’t see it as a big problem.”

On Sunday, however, Blaney was affected to some degree. That is beyond dispute. Even Larson acknowledged after the race that he benefited from Keselowski’s setback.

“The way the strategy played out, with Brad running out of fuel and me inheriting the front row, a lot had to fall into place,” Larson said. “Luckily that happened.”

The win was Larson’s first in Indianapolis, kicking off a euphoric celebration that saw himself, Daniels, team owner Rick Hendrick and team manager Jeff Gordon take to the front stands to celebrate with the fans. Larson has now won three of NASCAR’s crown jewel races.

Meanwhile, further down the pit lane, things were decidedly less festive. After getting out of his car, Blaney needed a moment to decompress and decided to sit on the pit wall to collect himself.

“We should have won the race,” he said. “… Just disappointed. That just stinks. That’s just dumb luck. We did everything we could to win and he got a break, pretty good.

(Top photo of Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney at Sunday’s Brickyard 400: Justin Casterline / Getty Images)