‘WRONG PLACE AT THE WRONG TIME’ FOR BLANEY IN VEGAS

Ryan Blaney and the No. 12 Menards/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse team caught an untimely caution late in Sunday's Pennzoil 400, resulting in a 16th-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Blaney displayed top-10 pace from the onset of Sunday's 400-mile event, posting a ninth-place effort in Stage 1 before working his way up to sixth during the initial run of the second segment. After pitting at the start of the green flag pit cycle in Stage 1, crew chief Jonathan Hassler made the call to run long in Stage 2, allowing Blaney to assume the lead on lap 122 before hitting pit road a few laps later for a four-tire stop. Blaney was scored 12th in the running order by the time the cycle was complete before crossing the line 11th at the conclusion of Stage 2. The Menards/Pennzoil Ford took the ensuing restart from 14th before Blaney picked up five spots during the opening two laps of the run to re-enter the top-10. With the final green flag pit cycle looming, the 12 team opted to come to pit road at the beginning of the cycle on lap 210, but an ill-timed caution just two laps later trapped Blaney a lap down in the process. After taking the wave-around to rejoin the lead lap, Blaney lined up 20th to take the green flag of what turned out to be the final restart of the afternoon and worked his way up to 16th by the time the checkered flag flew.