Streaks of both bad luck and good luck appeared on the Ford bandwagon today. After an 85-race winless drought, Team Penske’s Austin Cindric turned around his fortunes. His first win came at the 2022 Daytona 500, and Illinois punched his ticket the second time around. But in the process, Cindric’s teammate was left with heartburn.

Ryan Blaney thought that Christopher Bell was his only opponent at the Enjoy Illinois 300. But evidently, fuel threw a wrench in Blaney’s winning hopes. And the Penske driver was far from happy when this happened.

The close shave cut a deep wound for Ryan Blaney

In November 2023, Ryan Blaney snagged the coveted NASCAR Cup championship trophy amidst showering confetti. This year, he sits gloomily outside the playoffs after Illinois as sheer misfortune came his way. The Team Penske #12 team thought they had enough fuel until the liquid ran out just a mile short of the checkered flag. Then teammate Austin Cindric snatched his win, drawing criticism from fans.

Ryan Blaney gave a good fight with Christopher Bell. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver was a strong contender, and Blaney had his plate full in fending him off. But he saw his pathway clearing when suddenly Bell faltered. Blaney came dangerously close to his first season win before his car sputtered and slowed as his fuel bars faded.

The moment of realization must have stung the most. Pit crew chief, Jonathan Hassler, had his eyes on the race win, informing Blaney over the radio: “One point two, coming to the white.” Then Ryan Blaney screamed in frustration: “I’m out of gas!… That one is gonna f***ing sting.” He added weakly, “I appreciate the effort all weekend…should have won.”

Ryan Blaney was the first to get fresh tires after the final cycle of green-flag stops. Austin Cindric pitted just after him. The No. 12 team knew that it was playing close on its fuel strategy but never expected to get knocked out of contention. Hassler explained post-race: “We knew we were close, but that was a little closer than we expected. Like everyone else, we were trying to be aggressive and put ourselves in position to win and you have those things.”

After clinching a string of top-fives in the first eight races, Ryan Blaney lagged in the last part of the season. Hopefully, as Ford got its first win with Cindric, Blaney will follow suit soon after working on the team’s fuel strategy. He told Bob Pockrass: “Hopefully, it straightens itself out just proud of the effort have to figure out what happened there if we thought we had more fuel than we did. It’s not like we left it short on purpose, just thought we had more. So we’ll have to figure it out, dig into that, but proud of all of Team Penske today.”

However, even though fuel sealed his fate, the battle Ryan Blaney fought till that point was commendable.

Blaney “weathered the storm”

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Last weekend, Christopher Bell gave his best at the Coca-Cola 600. He could not believe “in a million years” that the trophy would be handed to him after a weather call. However, Bell did not allow that glory to cloud his contention in Illinois. The JGR driver started 4th, and soon shot to the front row. He maintained his lead through both stages until an unfortunate engine failure relegated him out of winning chances. He could eke out a 7th-place finish.

Ryan Blaney had to fiercely battle him till the ending laps. He told NASCAR after the race, “I don’t think we were the fastest. Bell seemed like he shot out of a cannon. I don’t know where he came from, so battling him was tough.”

So his fuel misery was more frustrating as Blaney just won a hard-fought battle with Bell. “That’s frustrating to drive your a*s off to keep [Bell] behind you. I don’t know what happened to him, but you think you do a good job and drive your [expletive] off and feel like you weathered the storm of just trying to get it home and you run out.”