NASCAR is back to its usual shenanigans of defending a controversial judgment call in determining the winner of the Brickyard 400. Remember when they were in a similar position at Richmond Raceway earlier in the season? They allowed Denny Hamlin to jump the restart zone late in the race and stated that it was a bang-bang call. Citing that the race was in its defining moments, they decided not to reprimand the driver.

And it seems like they are back with this explanation after potentially stealing Ryan Blaney’s winning moment at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. However, this time around, the move by Kyle Larson was within the confines of the rule. There was a feeling that NASCAR could’ve dealt with the situation better, but going by Elton Sawyer’s comments, they feel they made the right call.

What was the cause of the late-race controversy?

Coming to the first overtime run of the race, Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski were running tight on fuel to see the checkered. With the caution, Keselowski surprisingly stayed out, thus forcing Blaney’s hand to take the outside lane. His theory was that the No. 6 car running out of fuel would hinder Larson’s charge on the restart.

But, nothing of the sort happened, as after choosing the lane, the veteran RFK Racing driver decided to pit for fuel, leaving Penske star high and dry. Next thing you know, Larson was quickly promoted to the front row. Knowing his chances of victory were almost up in the air, Blaney went on a ballistic rant on the radio, “They just GAVE it to him (Larson). It’s f**king over, I’m on the top. I ain’t gonna win from the top. Gave it to f**king golden boy.”

Well, NASCAR viewed this from a very distinct lens. In their defense, Elton Sawyer explained, “You know a bang-bang call … The way it unfolded is the way it did and naturally, it looked fine. We’ll go back and see if there’s anything we would’ve done different. Again, it happened so quick that I don’t know that we would have.”

NASCAR’s SVP further added that even if they decided to redo the whole choice process, Ryan Blaney still wouldn’t have the lane choice. “Even if hypothetically we would’ve thrown the caution, then we still wouldn’t have went back through a choose process. We had already done that; the 12 would have still been the control vehicle but would not have the opportunity to have lane choice. So as you look back on it, we kinda digest it once again and still feel like it was a right decision to let it play out.”

Despite having race-winning speed and strategy, it seems like the #12 team just can’t catch a good break, especially, during the clutch moments of the race, and that has been the story so far for them this season.

Ryan Blaney is still not on good terms with Lady Luck

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Blaney is the outright contender from the Ford camp that can go toe-to-toe with Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin for the championship battle. However, the reigning champion has found himself on the bitter end of the things that cost him potential wins. It started in Atlanta, where he lost by mere millimeters to Daniel Suarez in a three-wide photo finish. Next, he almost had a victory in his bag at Gateway, but he ran out of fuel, taking the white flag.

After securing his first win of the season at Iowa and on the cusp of making history at Brickyard, it felt things were going well for Blaney. But, once again, luck wasn’t on his side as he fell victim to a controversial decision by officials, which did cost him an iconic victory. “Luck of the draw right there, I guess. I don’t know. I don’t know what to be mad about. Mad at losing this race because I thought we were in the perfect position,” Blaney said in the post-race interview.

The good news for Blaney and the #12 team is that they are right up there, contending for races every weekend. They are notorious for turning the heat up in the playoffs, and hence, this run couldn’t have come at a better time. So there’s plenty of time for the driver to overturn his fortunes and defend his title.