“Would have been the best race win diecast”: NASCAR world astonished after Ryan Blaney’s heavily damaged car finishes P3 in Atlanta

Ryan Blaney finished P3 in NASCAR's playoffs opener in Atlanta while sustaining heavy damage following a collision with Chris Buescher and Martin Truex Jr.

The No. 12 Team Penske Ford Mustang driver was running in 9th when the No. 17 Ford of Buescher hit his left rear bumper after getting loose at lap 205. The collision caused Blaney's car to lose control before colliding with the trailing No. 19 Toyota of Truex Jr, resulting in damage to the left side of his car.

Ryan Blaney pitted to repair the damage and rejoined the field in 32nd. He climbed his way back to the front to finish third behind Daniel Suarez.

During a post-race interview, the 30-year-old driver told reporters that he didn’t see the No. 17 car of Buescher.

“I knew the 17 was beneath me but I couldn’t see his car. Like he was like [far] back,” Blaney said [1:26]. “I guess he got loose or something and overcorrected, yeah, nothing we could do about that.”

With Blaney recovering almost 30 positions in 49 laps, fans were astonished at his performance, especially considering his car had sustained heavy damage in the final stages of the race.

Not long after the cars crossed the finishing line, Blaney and his car became a hot topic amongst the netizens as one tweeted:

Later the X account posted another tweet that gave insights on how initially Blaney crossed the line second but after the review, the finishing order was changed.

Another fan commented that the car would’ve been a remarkable “race win diecast.”

“Would have been the best race win diecast,” a fan said.

Several fans appreciated Blaney's on-track performance and expressed how they would have enjoyed watching him win:

“Damn shame he didn’t win. Would have been awesome to see that beat up car sponsored by Dent Wizard in victory lane!” a fan commented.

“Was hoping to see him win it so we could get that raced version in diecast,” another fan said.

Another fan applauded the No. 12 team, led by crew chief Jonathan Hassler, for repairing the damaged car and tweeted:

“They certainly were dent wizards today 😂”

The NASCAR Cup Series defending champion had a strong performance all throughout the race weekend. Ryan Blaney qualified second just behind pole-sitter Michael McDowell by 0.073 seconds. He was also P1 in Stage 1, followed by a P2 finish in Stage 2.

With a P3 overall finish, Ryan Blaney is 2nd and +45 in the playoffs standings, just behind teammate Joey Logano, who won the first race of the postseason in Atlanta. The Team Penske No. 12 driver is up by five and 12 points over Christopher Bell in P3 and regular season champ Tyler Reddick in P4, respectively.

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Joey Logano acknowledges Ryan Blaney for his Atlanta performance

During the final overtime restart, Ryan Blaney was behind teammate Joey Logano on the inside lane. While Logano was battling Daniel Suarez for the lead, Blaney was giving his teammate a shove, which eventually led to a win.

“Incredible execution from the team,” Logano said. “We got kind of stuck in the back, it was hard to get track position back, we had a good restart and got towards the front and had my teammate Blaney behind me. It really helped me out in the last lap to be able to make sure a Penske [car] won and ultimately move on the next round.”

The top five finishers at the Quaker State 400 were Joey Logano in 1st, Daniel Suarez in 2nd, Ryan Blaney in 3rd, Christopher Bell in 4th, and Alex Bowman in 5th. They were followed by Tyler Reddick, Kyle Busch, and Chase Elliot, respectively. Completing the top 10 were William Byron in 9th and Austin Cindric in 10th.

The next playoff race will be at Watkins Glen International on September 15.