BRISTOL, Tenn. — Ryan Blaney was cruisin’ Sunday afternoon at Bristol Motor Speedway.
At Bristol, though, a bruisin’ can come at any moment.
Blaney had led for 61 consecutive times around the track in the early going of the Food City 500 when he reached cars struggling to stay on the lead lap coming around Turn 3 of lap 118.
With no room to maneuver, Blaney was pinned up near the wall and plowed into the sideways car of Harrison Rhodes as his promising day came to an end in the blink of a classic BMS bash.
“I didn’t see much to be honest with you,” Blaney said. “By the time I could see anything they were already turned right and there was nowhere to go.”
Six cars wound up affected by the crash with Chris Buescher and Rhodes also forced off the track for the remainder of the race. A red flag was brought out for six minutes and 29 seconds to deal with the debris.
“I hate that we all got a bunch of torn up race cars,” Buescher said. “All three or four of us were trying to get clear of one car for a long time and it got very frustrating. The top was coming in. It was exciting; I think it’s going to be a great race to the end. I’m just pissed off that we are not participating anymore.”
The eventful 125-lap Stage 1 – won by Brad Keselowski on a one-lap shootout after the caution period for the wreck that took out Blaney ended – also featured a nine-car incident on the front stretch a mere three laps into the race.
That skirmish took out the No. 15 car of Ross Chastain and the No. 34 of Michael McDowell, who qualified ninth, while also putting Chase Elliott numerous laps behind.
“It’s just unfortunate,” McDowell said. “There are no excuses. I was just racing the [No.] 19 [Daniel Suarez] and got loose underneath him. There’s not a lot of grip.”
Blaney led 100 total laps before climbing out of his banged-up car.
“It’s obviously frustrating when lapped cars wreck and take the leader out,” Blaney said. “That’s unfortunate. They weren’t lap-down cars yet, I guess, but I don’t know. … That stinks. I thought we had a good car and nothing to show for it.”
The crash-filled early going slowed the race down just enough for NASCAR officials to postpone the remainder of the Food City 500 until Monday at 1 p.m. when off-and-on showers turned into a steady downpour with 204 laps in the books – 46 short of the end of Stage 2 and the race getting in enough laps to be declared official.
The 24-year-old Blaney will remain stuck on one career Monster Energy Cup victory in 98 career starts on the series. He has seven career Xfinity Series wins, including a victory at BMS in August 2014. Blaney also reached Victory Lane at Bristol on the Truck Series in August 2015.