Ryan Blaney salvaged a fourth-place finish at Gateway despite a run-in with Kyle Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet on lap 135 of Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300, but the Team Penske driver admitted he was baffled by the incident.
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Blaney, who managed to claw his way back into the top five, later sought out Larson for clarity. He stressed he bore no grudges, though he noted he would keep a sharper eye the next time they shared close quarters.
Blaney admitted his conversation with Larson would have carried a different tone had he not recovered. “If we wouldn’t have recovered as well as we did, it probably would have been a different conversation.
“But yeah, just trying to get an understanding because from my seat, he came from all the way on the bottom of the racetrack, all the way up, and hit me in the left rear. So I just was trying to get a clearer understanding about that, and so yeah, move on.”
Asked whether he would hold it against Larson, Blaney kept it measured, saying, “Even though it wasn’t done, I don’t think, in like a malicious intent at all. Still remember it, right?
“Like, I still got the s**t end of it and got turned around and had to come from the back… It’s not anything grudgy or something like that.
“It’s just those racing situations that you kind of think about next time you run with that person. You probably run them a little tighter, don’t give them as much space. There’s no ill will or anything. It’s just race people how I get raced.”
What exactly went down between Blaney and Larson at Gateway?
The two former champions fought tooth and nail for fifth, trading positions over several laps before Blaney slipped ahead. Larson, pressing hard from the bottom lane, drifted up in Turn 4 and clipped Blaney’s left rear, sending the No. 12 Ford spinning.
Convinced he had the quicker car, Larson had hounded Blaney for several laps, but his aggression boiled over into a miscalculated move.
The contact cost Blaney dearly in Stage 2, dropping him to 17th while Larson salvaged seven stage points with a fourth-place run in the one-lap sprint to end the segment. Yet Blaney and his crew regrouped.
With sharp strategy and plenty of speed, he stormed back to fourth at the checkered flag, logging his 11th top-five of the season, tying Larson for the third-most in 2025 and placing him one shy of his career best. Larson, meanwhile, faded to 12th after a late pit call under caution despite leading 52 laps.
Larson, for his part, apologized and chalked the miscue up to a misjudgment. Both drivers remain firmly in playoff contention heading to Bristol. Larson holds the largest points cushion among non-winners at 60, while Blaney sits fifth in the standings, 42 points clear of elimination.
