Dale Earnhardt Jr. Points Fingers at a Defeated Kyle Busch for Ruining Ryan Blaney
Many characters played their role in finally crowning Kyle Larson as the winner. In a last-minute thriller, with just 3 laps to go, a caution came out due to a multi-car crash. Keselowski gambled by staying out on the track during a late caution, keeping his front-row position next to Blaney. But his gamble backfired as he ran out of fuel just before the restart, handing the lead to Larson (who was originally third). Larson then used the preferred starting lane to blast past Blaney and take control. Larson held the lead through a second caution to win the race.
The series of events that unfolded left Blaney upset and Larson pleased. The Kyle Busch crash invited a red flag leading to a restart, and Larson was allowed to start ahead of Blaney. While Blaney blamed NASCAR’s decision, Dale Jr. on his podcast seemed to agree with it all being 2-time champion, Busch’s fault.
Hadn’t the crash happened, Brickyard could have had a completely different winner. Kyle Busch in turn 3 entered too low, causing his car to push up the track and collide with Denny Hamlin’s, and then everything else unfolded. Dale Earmhardt Jr. shared his unpopular opinion on the July 24 episode of Dale Jr. Download. Junior agreed when one of the guys on his podcast said, “Kyle Busch was the caution that led to this, so for pointing fingers, I think it’s Kyle Busch.”
After the race, Blaney was furious and disappointed; he said, “With this, you’re promoting the third-place guy before the second place guy if the leader has problems. That’s not right,” he said. “It’s dumb luck, right, of where Brad ran out and stuff like this. At this race track where the bottom (lane) is preferred. I don’t know. I’m just upset. That’s a heartbreaker. We did everything right today. I mean, was in prime position to win and just didn’t work out for us. Just got unlucky.”
In the thriller that emerged on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, another character paving the way for Kyle Larson was perhaps Ryan Peerce. Who also made it to Dale Jr.’s list.
Just as the race seemed headed for a boring finish with Larson leading under the white flag, Ryan Preece spun out in Turn 2 during the second overtime, throwing a wrench into things. NASCAR faced a tough call: throw the caution flag immediately or let the race finish under green. They opted to wait, triggering the caution after the leaders passed the white flag. This meant the race ended under yellow, preventing a potential third overtime that could have shuffled the standings. The decision gave Larson the win.
Dale Jr., emphasizing the same, said, “Ryan Preece gets spun out by Chase Elliot unintentional. Preece runs out of gas coming out off turn 2. I was wondering how all that went down because I was so ready to blame Preece for all of this nonsense. We’ll you know we gave Cindric a hard time for creating all that Fiasco at Nashville. Its only fair we sort of make sure we. You know Preece is the suspect here that we have to question.”
