NASCAR Review: What Happened Between Ryan Blaney and William Byron at Darlington?

Defending Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney got to leave the race track earlier than his competitors during Sunday’s race in Darlington. He was fighting for fourth place 39 laps into the second stage when Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron forced himself three-wide alongside Blaney and Martin Truex Jr. in a narrow corner. He ended up tagging Truex who in turn tagged Blaney and sent him into the wall.

The contact with the wall instilled enough damage on Blaney’s #12 Ford Mustang to render it undriveable for the rest of the race. Frustrated with the move from Byron that led to the entire sequence, he let his displeasure known on the radio, shouting, “I’m gonna go kill both those mother f***ers is what I’m gonna do.”

Following the damage, which broke his right rear toe-link, he drove around the track to meet up Byron’s #24 Chevy Camaro. At this point, he nearly lost control of his car and swerved into Byron. Fortunately, he was able to keep himself in line. He clarified to NBC Sports later that he never intended to hit Byron and had just lost control of his car.

“I’m not going to hit him; I’ll save that for another time,” he said. Explaining what Byron had done wrong, Blaney said that he ought to have made sure that there was enough space for the others to run up top when moving three-wide. “I was like, ‘You’re responsible for those two guys if you shove guys three wide. You have to act like two cars are to the top of you,” he concluded.

William Byron regrets causing Blaney wreck early in the race

Completing the race in sixth place, Byron explained his point of view about the accident. He said that he was under the impression that he’d been running in front of Truex and Blaney and was surprised that he was in that particular spot. “I almost got clear of Martin [Truex Jr.] and I hate that that happened,” he said. “I don’t wanna crash especially that early in the race.”

William Byron gives his perspective on the accident that ended Ryan Blaney’s day and the question whether he pinched Martin Truex Jr. toward Blaney, forcing Blaney in the wall. pic.twitter.com/ycH7EXRneN

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) May 12, 2024

He wished that he had given more room but also noted how narrow the corner was and forced cars to get very tight. With Byron dating Blaney’s sister, Erin, the two are not likely to hold such unintentional accidents against each other. The Hendrick star admitting that he might have used up more space than required should suffice to keep Blaney from having any intrusive thoughts, for now.