Ryan Blaney opens up about challenges from adjustment mishap to top-five finish at Martinsville Cup race

Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney claimed a top-five result in the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, April 7. Blaney had an eventful race and he recently opened up about the wrong setup choices that hampered his progress in the race.

Blaney, who started the race in the top 10, noted that the car felt loose (experiencing oversteer) during the first stint of the race. In response, the #12 Penske team, led by crew chief Jonathan Hassler, opted to adjust the setup to make it tighter.

The setup change inadvertently affected Ryan Blaney's race as he had lost track position. The tighter setup exacerbated the understeer caused while driving in traffic, hindering the #12 Ford driver's charge through the pack. He discussed the setup choices in a post race interview with Bob Pockrass, stating:

"Super free in the first run of the race, we tightened it up, but then we have to come back down pit road. So now I'm in the back, in traffic where you are tighter. And now we have tightened our car up, so now its like a double whammy. So you went on the wrong way of the adjustment."

"It just took a while to recover. [In] the next whole run, I was way too tight, cause we adjusted for clean air and we were in traffic. Took us a while to recover from that."

Ryan Blaney added that the two-tire stop later in the race helped him gain track position but his pace leveled off after making some moves. Despite running outside the top 10 in the first two stages, he bounced back to claim a top-five finish in the race.

Blaney did have a shot at victory in the final restart as he lined up on the second row but he conceded that he lacked the speed to compete against the dominant Hendrick Motorsports Chevy drivers who swept the podium positions.

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Ryan Blaney hails crew chief Hassler's call for two tires

After Penske driver Joey Logano made a two tire stop work in the second stage of the race, Ryan Blaney's crew chief Jonathan Hassler made the call to put Ryan Blaney on two tires in the third stage helping the #12 Ford driver gain track position.

Blaney hailed the call made by his crew chief and reckoned he was surprised by his pace in the clean air, but conceded that his progress stalled when he was battling Denny Hamlin. He said (via Speedwaydigest.com):

"We got good at the end. It was an uphill battle for sure. We had the issue on pit road and had to restart in the back and nobody could pass anybody. Jonathan made a good call to put two on it at the start of the third stage and we kind of established ourselves a little bit back in the top 10."

Eight rounds into the season, Ryan Blaney currently sits fifth in the drivers' standings, 48 points behind leader Kyle Larson.