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Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney talked about the missed opportunity to secure his maiden win for the 2024 season at the World Wide Technology Raceway last Sunday. Blaney dominated the Enjoy Illinois 300 until the final lap when his #12 Ford ran out of fuel, allowing his Penske teammate Austin Cindric to take the checkered flag.
In an interview with Bob Pockrass, the defending Cup Series champion owned up to the errors and miscalculations done by the team in judging the fuel mileage on their final pit stop. Blaney said:
"Yes everyone makes mistakes and everyone makes errors. I make them every single weekend and we all expect perfection out of the whole team. But people make mistakes."
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The 30-year-old Blaney elaborated on the situation being a simple miscalculation.
"We thought there was more in the tank than there actually was. We dumped enough fuel in the last stop judging off of what we thought was in it prior to that, so yes, little mistake, little math error, but you just learn from those things and move on," Blaney added.
Blaney claimed that such a scenario can happen to anybody. However, his possible first win of the season turned into a P24 finish.
"So, we've done the best we could to figure out what happened and then try to take measures to make sure it doesn't happen again," Blaney said in the end.
A look into the final moments of the Enjoy Illinois 300
Austin Cindric, the #2 driver of Team Penske, clinched his first win since the 2022 Daytona 500 at the World Wide Technology Raceway last Sunday.
Blaney, who led the final 20 laps, was forced to slow down as he ran out of fuel during the last lap of Enjoy Illinois 300. This allowed his teammate to book a spot in the Cup Series playoffs.
Here's a look into the final moment of the race at WWT Raceway:
As NASCAR heads toward the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma, #12 Blaney sits at P12 in the overall standings. He has four top-fives and five top-tens after 15 starts in the 2024 season and is still struggling to confirm a spot in the playoffs with a win.
