The new villain on the blocks has a supporter. We are two races into the 2025 season and one driver has accrued immense backlash from fans. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has been in the middle of wrecks twice already. In Daytona, the Hyak Motorsports driver stole Joey Logano’s 47-lap leading sparkle. This weekend in Atlanta, Stenhouse again spun off a huge crash involving Chase Elliott and Brad Keselowski.

However, there seems to be another suspect in the latest melee. On lap 150, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was racing Chase Briscoe, fighting to get out in front. Little did they expect that another driver – Ryan Blaney’s blocking could cause chaos. And according to Corey LaJoie, Blaney is the real culprit.

Fingers point at Ryan Blaney

The No. 12 Team Penske driver was involved in no less of a mess this past Sunday. On lap 234, a nudge from Carson Hocevar’s No. 77 Chevrolet spun out Ryan Blaney’s car. As he tried to recover from the smoking wreck, Blaney called Hocevar a ‘moron.’ But this spotlight on Hocevar’s usual aggressive behavior may have hidden a possible slip-up on Blaney’s part. With 12 laps left for Stage 2’s conclusion, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. drew criticism for his roughness with Chase Briscoe. After wrecking the No. 9 Chevy, Chase Elliott’s spotter Trey Poole called out Stenhouse: “The 47 put us in the f—— wall.”

Corey LaJoie was part of the multi-car wreck as well, but he held a different view. A recently posted video from the in-car camera of Tyler Reddick’s No. 45 Toyota displayed the few seconds leading up to the lap 150 wreck. While Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Chase Briscoe fenced each other, Ryan Blaney‘s No. 12 is also visible upfront. According to Corey LaJoie, Blaney’s car blocked too much. He put forward his verdict about who the real culprit was on X: “The 12. He closed the lane off and the 47 had a headlight in there and Ricky had to crowd the 19.”

This comes as a welcome deviation from the usual bombardment of scathing criticism against Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Indeed, the latter has drummed up a poor reputation after getting in the way of the 7-time Most Popular Driver. Chase Elliott was running 11th through Turns 3 and 4 in the high lane, while Stenhouse and Briscoe raced to his left. Then Briscoe’s car washed up the track into Stenhouse’s Chevrolet, which then sent Elliott into the SAFER barrier. The impact appeared to break the No. 9’s right rear toe link, as Elliott radioed: “Bent that toe link and I couldn’t get it straight.”

Now that Corey LaJoie has pointed out Ryan Blaney, the latter may also accrue some backlash. However, the damage was crippling for one Brad Keselowski – but he took it well.

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Keselowski brushes off early-season wreck

According to Brad Keselowski, Atlanta showcases marvelous racing. After the wreck fest that played out at Daytona last weekend, the RFK Racing owner/driver was looking forward to a breath of fresh air at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Owning two wins at the 1.54-mile hybrid track, Keselowski claimed that Atlanta caters to both ‘tradecraft and racecraft.’ However, bad luck descended on the No. 6 Ford, which Chase Elliott’s car contacted after breaking sideways. Although Keselowski’s crew tried to repair the car, the damage was too severe and the veteran could not return to the racetrack.

Yet Brad Keselowski took joy in the event anyway, relishing the tight-quarters racing that Ryan Blaney and others were a part of. “It’s just intense racing. It’s great racing… It’s fun to be a part of. Just hate we didn’t come out on top.”

Keselowski also emphasized that last year as well, Ford drivers were nowhere near the winning story at the start. So he brushed off his wreck and looked forward. “We started off last year in a big points hole. The potential in our cars seems to have increased from where we were last year. So, for us, we want to go out and run well at COTA (Circuit of The Americas). But I think everybody kind of knows that the real metric for the season is probably going to be more when we get through Phoenix and Vegas.” The Fords dominated superspeedway qualifying but it was Chevrolet and Toyota who have come up with wins to open the season.

So be it Ryan Blaney or Ricky Stenhouse Jr., neither earned a place in the bad books of Brad Keselowski. Chase Elliott and Corey LaJoie may be exceptions – do you think they will answer in kind?