Ryan Blaney described himself as an “innocent bystander” after a collision with Chris Buescher during lap 62 of Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway brought an abrupt end to his competitive run. The incident occurred as the two drivers exited Turn 1, where their cars made contact, sending Blaney into the grass and ultimately crashing into a tire barrier, forcing him to finish 36th.

While Blaney’s race was over, Buescher managed to continue and completed the event in 16th place. The crash denied Blaney the opportunity to capitalize on what had been a strong showing up to that point in the race.

Blaney Reflects on the Incident and Its Impact

Blaney told Frontstretch.com,

“It was going well till we got wrecked by the 17.”

When asked whether he believed Buescher’s actions were intentional, he responded,

“I don’t know. You’ve got to talk to him.”

He quickly added,

“I don’t think he intentionally meant to do it, but he overdrove (Turn) 1 and I was the innocent bystander. I thought we were really good today. I thought (we were a) third, fourth, fifth place car.”

This recent misfortune adds to a string of tough results for Blaney, who has struggled in the past few races with finishes including 40th at Atlanta and 32nd at Michigan. Sunday’s result marked his third finish outside the top 30 in the last six events, though he still holds seventh place in the Cup standings.

“It was a shame that it didn’t end like I thought,”

Blaney said.

“We had speed in our car. So, it’s just an unfortunate way things go sometimes.”

Blaney Praises Van Gisbergen’s Road Course Dominance

Despite his own disappointing outcome, Blaney acknowledged the impressive performance of race winner Shane van Gisbergen, who claimed his second consecutive victory on a road or street course and his third overall win this season.

Commenting on van Gisbergen’s ability, Blaney said,

“He’s really good at these places. He’s just really smooth and he’s really fast with lap time, but he also is not like out of control doing it. He can save tires while also maintaining solid lap time to keep him up front.”

“I mean, he’s just put on a clinic on these road courses. The last three, Mexico, Chicago and here, he has really dominated. Honestly, all three of those. He’s just really technical in how he does it and his approach to it. He’s just a really solid race car driver and we’re all going to have to get a lot better at these places to have a chance,”

Blaney added.

Implications for Blaney’s Season and Road Course Challenges

The collision at Sonoma not only cost Blaney a strong finish but also underscores the difficulties he has faced in recent road course events. With van Gisbergen’s continued dominance on these challenging tracks, Blaney and others will need to improve their road course performances to compete more effectively.

As the season progresses, Blaney will look to rebound from this setback and regain momentum, while the competitive landscape grows increasingly demanding, especially on technical circuits like Sonoma Raceway.