"I don't know how he did it": Ryan Blaney reacts to 23XI rival's 'impressive' Homestead-Miami win

Ryan Blaney reflected on his botched final lap maneuver while heaping praise on his 23XI Racing rival Tyler Reddick. The former took the white flag as the leader, but couldn't fend off the latter as Reddick "entered (turn) 3 so fast," slimming the defending champion's odds of advancing to the Championship 4 race.

Blaney entered the Straight Talk Wireless 400 race 47 points below the cutline but inched closer to punching his Phoenix ticket, as he led the penultimate lap with the checkered flag in sight. But in a bid to steer to the bottom of the 1.5-mile oval, the #12 Ford driver left the outside lane wide open for Reddick to pass.

Wasting no time, the regular season champion 'impressively' gunned for the lead, registering his third win this season, and securing his career-first Championship 4 berth. With that, Ryan Blaney still lingers below the elimination line, in seventh place.

After the disappointing race, the defending Cup Series champion reflected on his weekend while praising the #45 Toyota driver's performance. He said (via Bob Pockrass).

"Kind of missed it (the bottom) and gave the #45 (Reddick) some air and then it was a huge run down the backstrech, I think the #11 was kind of on him and gosh, when he got to my bumper, right to me, it was a perfect timing for him and worse for me, like he got be right as the corner started," Blaney said (0:08).

"I didn't know if he was gonna pull a slider or I was like, 'Okay, I'm going to like send it in there like two lanes off the top, kind of fast just try to like protect that and then try to get up,' but my god, he entered (turn) 3 so fast at the wall. I don't know how he did it, it was pretty impressive," he added.

Blaney is in dire need of a promising result at Martinsville Speedway. Meanwhile, his teammate Joey Logano is already locked in the title fight, courtesy of the latter's Las Vegas win.

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"I try not to stew over these things": Ryan Blaney on avoiding information overload immediately after a disappointing race

Had Ryan Blaney kept the lead for some more time and parked his #12 Ford in the victory lane instead of the 23XI Racing driver, he would've inched closer to clinching his second consecutive Cup Series title. Moreover, since the upcoming race at Martinsville will decide the remaining two drivers, the odds of advancing are slim.

After the 267-lap run, the #12 Ford driver said he felt there could've been numerous other approaches he could've implemented to prevent losing the lead. However, he emphasized doing the same on a Monday, fearing going "crazy" while thinking about the race. The runner-up said (via Frontstretch):

"There's obviously tons of things I feel like I could've done differently. That's easy to kind of (think about) on Monday or think about it after the race. When it doesn't go well like, 'I should've done this and that.' I try not to stew over these things and just try to learn from them. This would probably be the best route to do. I try not to sit around and just let it eat at me because then you're going to go crazy," Ryan Blaney said (1:40).

It's been 13 race weekends since Ryan Blaney's Pocono win, and failing to secure the victory at Martinsville could prove detrimental for the #12 driver.