Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson had an on-track skirmish during Sunday’s Cup Series race at Gateway. It almost ruined the Team Penske driver’s race, even though he salvaged things to finish the race in fourth place.
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In Stage 2, when the two were battling for fifth place, Larson made an aggressive move that made him slide upwards and clip the left rear of Blaney’s No. 12 Ford Mustang. The contact led to Blaney spinning out of control.
While the Hendrick Motorsports driver admitted that the mistake was his, he also justified that it wasn’t intentional. Austin Cindric believes Larson.
Cindric, as Blaney’s teammate, has every right to hold the error against Larson. But instead, he expressed a balanced view, trying to understand the Hendrick Motorsports driver’s perspective.
“I think Kyle has constantly proven that he’s not really that guy. I mean, he’ll overdrive his car and make a mistake. But he’s brutally honest when it comes to things,” said Cindric on the Door, Bumper, Clear podcast.
Cindric agreed that the acknowledgement of the mistake from Larson still doesn’t set things right for Blaney. However, he pointed out that making passes had been extremely difficult at that stage of the race, and Larson’s aggressive move came about probably because of that.
In good faith, Larson had acknowledged in post-race interviews that he messed things up and made a poor judgment. He finished the race in 12th place.
Do Cup Series drivers take advantage of Blaney?
Blaney is a calmer and milder-mannered driver than most of the Cup Series regulars. He doesn’t get into other drivers intentionally, and he doesn’t confront them on pit road with the intent to fight or create a ruckus.
Jordan Bianchi, who was also on the podcast in which Cindric spoke, suggested that Blaney’s nature might tempt his competitors to take advantage of him.
To this, Cindric replied, “That’s one of the hardest things to figure out, how you want to manage. It is different depending on who you’re racing and what your decisions are. Obviously, I have a much different relationship than most of Ryan’s competitors.
“So, it’s kind of hard to speak to that as far as Ryan individually… I think the funniest thing about being a Cup Series driver is the guys that you raced Xfinity with, that know you and trust you, those immediately become your best friends by default,” he added.
At the same time, Cindric also conceded that he did not know what Blaney’s relationship with Larson was like either. The latest incident did not lead to the confrontation boiling over outside of the track. That, as Blaney said after the race, was because he did manage a decent finish despite the incident.
Both drivers are a part of the ongoing playoffs. Larson sits third in the table, 60 points above the elimination line for the Round of 12. Blaney sits fifth, 42 points above the elimination line.
Cindric, meanwhile, finished the Gateway race in 19th place and sits 12th in the standings, just 11 points above the elimination line.
