When Ryan Blaney Got Lucky After Disaster Struck Jimmie Johnson and Martin Truex Jr. at the Roval

Despite the problems being faced by Team Penske this season, Ryan Blaney seems to have found a sweet spot after his recent trip to victory lane at Talladega Superspeedway. Meanwhile, looking ahead to the next weekend at the Charlotte Roval would surely bring back some memories for the Team Penske driver.

Back during the 2018 season, when NASCAR first arrived at the half oval and half road course format of the Roval, all hell broke loose in the final lap of the race. In a massive stroke of luck, Blaney ended up winning the race at the cost of seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, and Martin Truex Jr.

NASCAR’s first trip to the Roval was extremely chaotic, to say the least

During the final lap of the race, Martin Truex Jr. had been leading the race with a charging Jimmie Johnson right behind. As the pair came off the final banked corner up into the chicane before the start-finish line, Johnson locked his brakes up. Soon after the HMS driver spun off across and slid through the painted grass surface.

Meanwhile, Truex Jr. thought he was in the clear and tried to pass the chicane as quickly as possible. However, since Johnson slid backward back onto the racetrack, the former managed to tag the JGR driver. Subsequently, Truex Jr. spun out and hit the outside wall.

With both the leaders taken out, the opportunity was seized by Blaney, who was far behind in the third place, to overtake both of the wrecked drivers and win the race. Soon after the conclusion of the race it was evident that Johnson had been knocked out of the playoffs and would be able to fight for his eighth championship.

But that wasn’t entirely because of his wreck with Truex. Instead, it was partly because of Jeffrey Earnhardt spinning out of the final chicane and Kyle Larson taking up the position for one final point that allowed him to get into the next round.

Can Blaney get lucky once more at the Roval?

With his win last weekend, Blaney is already locked into the round of eight coming up after the race at Roval. However, looking back at how luck played a tremendous part in his win back in 2018 at the Roval, could there be a possibility for such a thing to happen once again?

Racing at the Roval has often seen drivers pile up and wreck into each other, making the finishes a nail-biting and intense event. Hence, he cannot rule out the first Roval race outcome to repeat itself all over again.

However, it might not be Blaney thing this time around, after all, Team Penske’s Ford car has not been up to the mark this season. Superspeedways were a different thing and road courses have been a completely different ball-game altogether for the cars.