Lady Luck was on Ryan Blaney’s side at Kansas Speedway. Despite going through troubles on the pit road, the Team Penske driver managed to finish fourth at the 2024 Hollywood Casino 400. It was the reigning Cup Series champion’s second-highest finish at the 1.5-mile oval and has set him up well going into the remaining Round of 12 races. The 30-year-old has had a good postseason so far, finishing in the top six in three out of the four playoff races he has competed in.

If it wasn’t for Kyle Busch’s incident with Chase Briscoe, which led to a caution, perhaps the outcome of the race would have been very different for Ryan Blaney. However, the Ohio native won’t be complaining as he currently occupies second place in the driver standings, 28 points above the elimination line.

Ryan Blaney counting his good fortune at Kansas

Ryan Blaney was optimistic about his chances at Kansas Speedway. Why wouldn’t he be? The Team Penske driver had qualified for the race in seventh place and built on that advantage in the opening laps to finish third at the end of Stage 1, a position he maintained by the end of Stage 2 as well. However, tragedy struck on lap 192 when Blaney was forced to get into the pits because of a loose wheel, which forced him to sacrifice valuable track positions that he had painstakingly maintained throughout the race. This meant that despite all the hard work, Blaney would be forced to settle for a finish in the 20s until a caution changed his luck for the better.

Speaking in the post-race interview, an elated Ryan Blaney recounted his good fortune by saying, “Appreciate the fast car. Just got to clean a couple of things up. Pit road, it wasn’t the smoothest day over there. So sure, we’ll get better and keep moving on it. It’s not often I catch a break. It’s usually bad breaks, it’s not often I catch a good break. So it was nice to catch a good one.”

The caution that made all the difference in Blaney’s race was introduced when Kyle Busch was attempting to pass Chase Briscoe, while the Stewart-Haas Racing driver was scrambling to maintain his advantage. In his attempts, Rowdy’s No. 8 Chevy made contact with the wall and spun, which changed the race in Blaney’s favor. His No. 12 Ford Mustang team took advantage of the opportunity to make the final pit stop, after which Blaney capitalized on some good restarts to finish the race in fourth place.

Surprisingly, Blaney was not the only Team Penske driver who suffered from loose wheels as his teammates, Austin Cindric and Joey Logano suffered the same fate. Unlike the Generation 6 cars, the Next-Gen wheels feature just one lug nut, which reduces the pit stop time but also increases the chances of mistakes. That’s exactly what happened this time around, which means that the racing team will be spending extra time practicing their pit stops ahead of the race at Talladega Superspeedway to not repeat the same errors next weekend.

Blaney reacts to potential car changes at Talladega

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The Next-Gen car has come under a lot of scrutiny recently, particularly after question marks have been raised about the safety standards of the vehicles. Corey LaJoie’s flip at Michigan International Speedway prompted NASCAR to introduce a right-rear air deflector, but that made no difference as Noah Gragson suffered the same fate at Daytona International Speedway. Even though Denny Hamlin believes rollovers aren’t necessarily a bad thing, Ryan Blaney seems to have a different outlook on the situation.

With the second Round of 12 race on the horizon, the Team Penske driver lauded NASCAR for their promptness in prioritizing driver safety, especially with the stakes being as high as they are. Blaney said, “It’s nice that they’re thinking about this stuff. You know, trying to keep tires on the ground. I feel like they’ve always done a good job, at least, especially the last handful of years, of kind of presenting us with something and then listening to what we have to say.”

With just six races to go before the season ends, Ryan Blaney is in a good position to defend his championship crown. He is just six points behind race leader William Byron in the driver standings and will head to the 2024 YellaWood 500 with a lot of confidence. Having won the race last year, Blaney has all the experience and talent on his side to get the result this time around as well. Victory will automatically help him qualify for the Round of 8, but he will aim to lift the title at Phoenix Raceway later this year.