“We should be +100 points to the good” - Ryan Blaney reflects on poor run of results and current standing 

Ryan Blaney is currently sitting in 12th place on the points table with 405 points. However, being winless as of yet, things can go tricky for the Team Penske driver as the regular season reaches a crescendo. He is a little less than 50 points shy of the cut line.

Blaney thus rued the #12 team's last three results, which, had they gone his way, would've placed him far above his current standing.

On Saturday, he was asked by a reporter after he ran out of fuel while leading the Enjoy Illinois 300 presented by TicketSmarter at Gateway Motorsports Park in Madison, Illinois if he was concerned about his lack of wins coupled with the possibility of a tight playoff.

"A little bit, especially now with having three pretty rough point finishes in a row. I mean, from wrecking at Darlington, wrecking at Charlotte, got good stage points last week, but the finish was terrible. We just given away tons of points. I wish we were ... we should be +100 (points) to the good rather than where we're at.

So I think in our spot you have to be mindful of it just because you can't give up some gobs of points, some of it you can't control. But we're definitely thinking about that," Blaney replied. [02:46]

The defending Cup champion claimed that while the #12 team is "aware" of their situation, they're not "worried at all." In fact, in the Qualifying for the Cup race at Sonoma Raceway on Saturday, the Toyota Save Mart 350, Ryan Blaney managed to score a 3rd place start for the race with his teammate Joey Logano taking the pole.

Blaney showed promising speed in practice, and with the Qualifying result, he'll be hoping to get his first win of the season on the wine country track in Sonoma county, California.

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How did Ryan Blaney run out of fuel at Gateway?

One of the things Ryan Blaney was asked about in his media interaction on Saturday was how he ran out of fuel at Gateway Motorsports Park in Madison, Illinois while leading the Enjoy Illinois 300 presented by TicketSmarter. The Penske driver claimed that it was a mistake and "everyone makes mistakes."

Blaney noted that he makes mistakes every weekend, and while they all expect perfection from the team, everyone makes errors. As for what really happened, Blaney said it was a case of simple miscalculation. They thought they had more in the tank and that wasn't the case, even though they "dumped enough fuel in the last stop", it being a simple math error.

But it wasn't a mistake that can't be moved on from, Blaney claimed, saying that they learn from such things and that they have to move on.

"It could happen to anyone. We did our best to understand what happened and we take measures to make sure it doesn’t happen again." [01:20]

Ryan Blaney emphasized that he tries to move on "pretty quickly" and tries to consider the good that came out of the race, which was that they ran "very well." Going forward, he hopes they can learn from the Gateway mistake and continue to show the speed of the past few weeks.