Ryan Blaney posts Atlanta Top-5 after late-race spin
Ryan Blaney rebounded for a fourth-place finish in the Ambetter Health 400 Sunday after a spinning off of Carson Hocevar’s front bumper with less than 40 laps to go in the race.
Blaney’s No. 12 Ford was racing in fourth-place entering Turn 1 when he received a bump from Hocevar’s No. 77 Chverolet in Turn 1, sending the past NASCAR Cup Series champion for a slide below the Atlanta Motor Speedway apron.
Blaney said he was happy he didn’t overcorrect and hook back towards the rest of the field with the incident.
Blaney did not make contact with another car or a retaining wall, continuing on and having to work his way through the field once the race resumed with about 20 laps to go.
“It was a good comeback,” Blaney said. “I just fell back from getting spun there and I was able to pick our way through and ended up scrounging a good finish out of it, so not a bad recovery.”
The Team Penske driver and Ross Chastain chatted with Hocevar post-race on pit road. When asked what was talked about, Hocevar said “I will just leave those to myself.”
Blaney started the race fourth, collected three stage points with a Top-10 showing in Stage 1, led one lap, and left Atlanta as the series points leader.
“It was an up and down day, that’s for sure,” Blaney said. “I’m happy we were able to make a recovery.”
The next race for the NASCAR Cup Series is scheduled for Sunday, March 2, at Circuit of the Americas.
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Dominic Aragon View All
Dominic Aragon is currently the editor-in-chief for The Racing Experts.
From Grants, New Mexico, USA, Aragon started watching NASCAR in 2004 and has been covering the sport since 2009. Aragon is a 2012 graduate of Grants High School and a May 2016 graduate of the University of New Mexico with a B.A. in Mass Communications & Journalism. Aragon has worked in local and national media, as a musician, and an educator. He is co-author of the 2024 book "All of It: Daytona 500 Champion Tells the Rest of the Story" with racer Geoff Bodine.
Aragon, his wife Feliz, and son Christopher currently reside in Grants, New Mexico, USA.
You can reach Dominic at daragon@theracingexperts.net.