NASCAR CUP SERIES: COKE ZERO SUGAR 400

August 28, 2022

Ryan Blaney

Pit Lane Interview

Q. Just three points. Over 26 races. Three positions, Ryan. You're in the Playoffs.

RYAN BLANEY: Yeah, we're very fortunate. That's for sure.

It was not a good day getting going and getting up early. At that point our fate was not really in our hands. All we could do is try to keep working on it and fix it to where we could make laps.

Thankfully we were able to get enough cars throughout the wrecks that we kind of just kept moving up and were able to get in.

That's definitely a lot more stressful than I wanted coming into here, but I just got to give a lot of props to the 12 group, you know, for fixing it and sticking with it all day. That's why you do it.

Your day can start off like that, and you just stay with it and stay in the game. And it was definitely beneficial for us.

Appreciate them, Advance Auto Ports Ford. We'll go race for a championship.

Q. Just quickly, what were the emotions like this week from knowing what you had to do to get in this race, being in the wreck, being six laps down and seeing it all unfold in the last 20 laps?

RYAN BLANEY: Really throughout the race when we got on our wreck so early, you try to stay optimistic. You know, you never know what can happen.

Whether it's a new winner or we can still try to beat the 19 on points, you just try to stay optimistic and in the game. Just not think about the negatives. Even though it's really easy to think about the negatives, you try not to.

Definitely a roller coaster of emotions, and luckily it ended on a high for our group.