“Sick of this stupid sh*t”: Ryan Blaney blasts Brad Keselowski at the Martinsville playoff race
Ryan Blaney blasted Brad Keselowski as they battled for the lead at Martinsville Speedway. Blaney made explicit comments on the radio as he couldn’t make it past Keselowski to keep his playoff hopes alive.
Blaney, 30, pilots the No. 12 Ford Mustang for Team Penske. The defending Cup Series champion entered the Round of 8 elimination race at Martinsville seventh in the playoff standings, 38 points below the cutline.
According to an X (formerly Twitter) post by NASCAR insider Davey Segal, Ryan Blaney expressed his frustrations on the radio. Segal wrote:
“Ryan Blaney says he's ‘sick of his stupid sh*t’ re: Brad Keselowski, who he has yet to get by for the lead.”
Blaney, who started from 14th, took the lead midway through Stage 2, surpassing drivers like Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski. However, Keselowski snatched the lead from Blaney after the restart on lap 203 following a caution caused by an incident involving Carson Hocevar and Daniel Hemric.
The two Ford drivers kept on racing each other hard but Keselowski held his lead all the way to win stage 2 at Martinsville. He was followed by Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, and William Byron, respectively.
Joey Logano and Tyler Reddick have already secured a spot in the Championship 4, having won a race in the Round of 8. This means that only two Championship 4 spots are up for grabs at Martinsville.
Blaney needs to win or score a significant amount of points to earn a chance to defend his title at Phoenix Raceway, given the drivers above him in standings score enough fewer points than him.
The other playoff drivers who entered the race below the cutline were Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, and Chase Elliott.
Ryan Blaney reacted to Tyler Reddick snatching the win at Homestead-Miami
Ryan Blaney shared his thoughts on the final lap of the Homestead-Miami race where Tyler Reddick took the lead from him for the win. The Ohio-born driver admitted he was surprised by Reddick’s speed as the No. 45 passed him from the outside.
Per veteran NASCAR reporter Bob Pockrass, the No. 12 Ford driver said:
“Kind of missed it (the bottom) and gave the #45 (Reddick) some air and then it was a huge run down the backstretch, I think the #11 was kind of on him and gosh, when he got to my bumper, right to me, it was a perfect timing for him and worse for me, like he got be right as the corner started." [0:08]
He added:
"I didn't know if he was gonna pull a slider or I was like, 'Okay, I'm going to like send it in there like two lanes off the top, kind of fast just try to like protect that and then try to get up,' but my god, he entered (turn) 3 so fast at the wall. I don't know how he did it, it was pretty impressive.”
Blaney finished second in the race, as Tyler Reddick spoiled the former’s chance to advance to the Championship 4. Denny Hamlin, who took the white flag in P2, finished third, followed by Christopher Bell and Chase Elliott, respectively.