?Absolutely on the Aggressive Side?: Dale Earnhardt Jr Blames Kyle Larson for His Recent Antic With Team Penske?s Last Hope

A lot of anticipation had built up in the motorsports community when NASCAR was about to roll out its fury on Talladega Superspeedway. Owing to the reputation that this madhouse has, perhaps nobody expected Team Penske icon Ryan Blaney to clear Kevin Harvick with a perfect photo finish. And with that, this 29-year-old speedster made his way into the round of 8. And last Sunday, he flaunted enough speed to advance further into Championship 4, but it didn’t happen.

Although Blaney sits on the greener side of the playoff fence, a win at the Homestead-Miami Speedway would have given him an enormous advantage. In a recent episode of his podcast, Dale Earnhardt Jr?shed light on what he thinks might have ruined 4EVER 400 for Ryan Blaney. Sadly, in doing so, he had to call out a member of his former team, Hendrick Motorsports.

Dale Earnhardt Jr admits that Kyle Larson was too aggressive

Ryan Blaney entered the penultimate race of the round of 8 in a steady shape. With a fast Ford Mustang, he was all set to run up front all day. And he almost did it. The way he ran at the front of the field, leading 53 laps of the race, made everyone contemplate that this driver could actually corkscrew his spot in the Championship 4 for the first time in his career.

But alas, 214 laps into the 267 lap-long race, Ryan Blaney attempted to commit to the pit road under the green flag, with Kyle Larson tailing him. Larson had packed too much speed into his Chevy and failed to pull up when it was needed. As a result, he hit Blaney’s right rear bumper and ran straight into the sand barriers that stood at the entry point of the pit lane.

Some might wonder, why did Larson pull off such a desperate move when he was already locked in for Phoenix. Dale Earnhardt Jr, however, was clear on this as he held Larson responsible for ruining Blaney’s day.

“I think Ryan was on the conservative side while Larson was absolutely on the aggressive side and those two things created quite an issue,” Junior said, adding, “I think that it actually hurt Blaney’s car a little bit; Blaney wasn’t sure he said so after the race that he didn’t know about the damage, didn’t know if it affected his car that bad.”

But the JR Motorsports owner admitted, “…it popped out the quarter panel, I don’t know if it was an inch or two, but right behind the tire, the quarter panel was sticking out. And that’s catching air, pulling air into the underbody of the car and I’m not sure if that was optimal.”

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All things considered, Sunday’s race didn’t quite bear the results that Blaney was perhaps hoping for. And for Kyle Larson, it was a bad day. Nevertheless, it’s interesting how Blaney wasn’t furious with Larson but with Joe Gibbs Racing‘s “Jack.”

Ryan Blaney fired shots at Kyle Larson’s arch-rival

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After the Larson-Blaney mishap, Ryan Blaney restarted from the lead. Although Denny Hamlin got control over the lap and caught the lead around turns 1 and 2, Hamlin leaned hard on Blaney’s left-side door for multiple laps.

That is what allowed Christopher Bell to steer forth for the lead. Moments later, however, Denny Hamlin suffered a steering issue and ran into the wall, ending his day. But Ryan Blaney wasn’t happy with the way Denny Hamlin raced him.

“He tried to slide me two or three times and failed miserably and then just decided to use me up,” Blaney said, adding, “I mean if you?re gonna slide somebody, slide somebody and commit. Don?t halfway do it and use me up. So what did he say? Hack? I think he was that today.”

And with that, it’s only a matter of a week before the racing community gets to know who the other two entries for the Grand Finale will be. We are as excited as you are!

Read more: NASCAR Hints at Dale Earnhardt Jr.?s ?Surprise? Entry Amid Top-10 Glory