Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney ended up colliding during Sunday’s race at Gateway amid the NASCAR Playoffs.
At the end of stage 2, Larson and Blaney were battling for fifth place when the Hendrick Motorsports car tried to overtake the Team Penske Ford.
Larson went for a move on the inside of Blaney, though he ended up sliding and making contact with Blaney, sending the Penske Ford into a spin.
Blaney managed to bounce back and finish fourth, while Larson failed to break the top 10 and finished in P12.
After the race, Blaney approached Larson regarding the contact and revealed the nature of the discussion to the media.
“I just wanted to know what I did to deserve it,” Blaney said.
“He just said he made a mistake. That’s fine. Make mistakes. But like at the end of the day, I still got turned.
“Came from all the way up the bottom of the racetrack, hit me in he left rear. I know he most likely didn’t mean to do it, but it happened anyway.”
Larson took responsibility for the collision and apologized through the media.
“I just told him I messed up,” he explained
“I wasn’t meaning obviously to go in there and hit him. The lap before I had got in there and got inside of him, slid up, got to his door, got him tight, got to where I could race him down the frontstretch.
“I was just trying to do that again. I was a little further back into three than I was the lap before. Just misjudged the point of where I wasn’t going to get next to him and tuck in. I just clipped him.
“But wasn’t intentional at all. I hope he understands that. Obviously, I hurt his day where he could have gained more points.”
NASCAR Playoffs Full Enjoy Illinois 300 Race Results
- Denny Hamlin (Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota)
- Chase Briscoe (Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota)
- Chase Elliott (Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet)
- Ryan Blaney (Team Penske Ford)
- Joey Logano (Team Penske Ford)
- John Hunter Nemechek (Legacy Motor Club Toyota)
- Christopher Bell (Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota)
- Bubba Wallace (23XI Racing Toyota)
- Chris Buescher (RFK Racing Ford)
- Ty Gibbs (Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota)
- William Byron (Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet)
- Kyle Larson (Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet)
- Ryan Preece (RFK Racing Ford)
- Michael McDowell (Spire Motorsports Chevrolet)
- Carson Hocevar (Spire Motorsports Chevrolet)
- Tyler Reddick (23XI Racing Toyota)
- Brad Keselowski (RFK Racing Ford)
- Austin Dillon (Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet)
- Austin Cindric (Team Penske Ford)
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet)
- Erik Jones (Legacy Motor Club Toyota)
- Kyle Busch (Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet)
- A.J. Allmendinger (Kaulig Racing Chevrolet)
- Ross Chastain (Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet)
- Shane van Gisbergen (Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet)
- Alex Bowman (Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet)
- Cole Custer (Haas Factory Team Ford)
- Justin Haley (Spire Motorsports Chevrolet)
- Cody Ware (Rick Ware Racing Ford)
- Noah Gragson (Front Row Motorsports Ford)
- Riley Herbst (23XI Racing Toyota)
- Todd Gilliland (Front Row Motorsports Ford)
- Zane Smith (Front Row Motorsports Ford)
- Ty Dillon (Kaulig Racing Chevrolet)
- Daniel Suarez (Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet)
- Josh Berry (Wood Brothers Racing Ford)
The post Kyle Larson Causes Ryan Blaney Clash During NASCAR Playoffs appeared first on Newsweek.
