"Our car was fast, just never got the lead" - Ryan Blaney claims he never got to race for the front at Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 at Martinsville Speedway

With eight Cup series races settled, Ryan Blaney, driving the No. 12 Ford for Team Penske, has led an impressive number of laps since the start of the season. Racing in his fifth Cup Series season, Blaney has led 334 laps so far in 2022.

However, Blaney was unable to lead a single lap in the recently concluded Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 at Martinsville Speedway. However, he did manage to position himself in the top ten for the better part of the race.

Toby Christie posted on Twitter, stating that Blaney mentioned that a lack of skew is what makes it so hard to pass drivers at Martinsville.

While speaking in a post-race interview, he described the racing night as an overall decent performance. Ryan Blaney stated:

“It was overall a decent night. We had a pretty fast car, but never got out front and never got to where we could race for the lead. You have to be a half-second faster than somebody to pass somebody.”

He also voiced his thoughts about the race's negative aspects, stating:

“You’d run someone down by four seconds and then get stuck behind them, so that was pretty disappointing. Overall, it was a really good night. I thought our car was fast, just never got the lead or even got a chance at the lead. Overall, not a bad night.”

On Twitter, Jeff Gluck posted how Blaney admitted his disappointment.

How Ryan Blaney performed in Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 at Martinsville Speedway

With eight races under our belts, Ryan Blaney has collected three pole positions, the most since the start of the season. But this time around, he took the green flag from pole 12, which was not a bad starting point for a driver of his caliber.

80 laps down the line in stage one, Ryan Blaney managed to push to pole seven ahead of Joey Logano and Austin Cindric. After 100 laps in stage two, Blaney maintained the pace by pushing to the fourth pole at the end of stage two, but this time Logano was ahead of him on pole three.

In the final stage, Ryan Blaney had 240 laps to ensure he reached the front of the line. This time around, the assignment became more difficult as all drivers were aiming for the same spot and the leaders were holding their positions tightly.

With seven laps remaining, the last caution of the race was called, and the race was up for overtime with two more laps to go. After 402 tough laps, the No. 12 driver recorded his third top-five finish of the season.