If Ryan Blaney’s analysis of the NASCAR Chase is accurate, then his championship bid is already over after only three of 10 races in the run to the title.
“I just don’t see that you can finish outside the top 30 multiple times and have a shot,” Blaney said last week. “It’s just going to be too much to make up.”
Three days later, Blaney finished 33rd at Bristol Motor Speedway, the second consecutive finish outside the top 30 for the 2023 Cup Series champion. Blaney has plummeted from second to sixth in the standings since the Chase began, and his frustrations boiled over in a fight with Carson Hocevar, who bumped Blaney into a crash that ended a promising Bristol race after the Team Penske star led a race-high 202 laps.
“I understand why he’s upset,” Hocevar said. “That’s probably his championship. I’d probably be mad, too.”
During the playoff system that existed the past 12 seasons, Bristol was a cutoff race in which four drivers were eliminated from title contention, and the points were reset for the rest of the field.