Ryan Blaney finished 0.003 seconds behind Daniel Suárez in an amazing photo finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday.
Being in his No. 12 Ford, Blaney didn’t see the race’s finish until he talked with reporters after the checkered flag. His reaction was priceless.
“I haven’t seen it,” Blaney said. “Holy (expletive). Oh, so close!”
The defending NASCAR Cup Series champion led 31 laps in the race but took second place behind Suárez, and 0.004 seconds ahead of third-place finisher Kyle Busch.
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“I feel great about how the race went. Just in that moment, you’re like, ‘Damn. That sucks,'” Blaney told NASCAR.com’s Cameron Richardson. “We just lost by three inches right? But then realize hey, it’s a good day. I’’s fun racing for the lead like that. We didn’t get torn up. The competitor in you, when you lose, you’re like ‘ah,’ but I had fun tonight.”
He added: “I can’t complain much about losing them by a handful of inches. I’ve won them by two or three feet. You’re going to be on both ends of it. Pretty fortunate to be on the good side of winning them by a foot or two so losing here tonight by a little bit, it’s still a good run.”
Blaney even took to social media to express how much fun he had competing in the race.
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“What a race! That’s one of the most ‘have you ever, no I’ve never’ Lightning McQueen/King/Chick Hicks thing you’ll ever see,” Blaney wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Congrats to my amigo @Daniel_SuarezG on the W. Hope everyone enjoyed it!”
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Las Vegas next weekend for the Pennzoil 400 Presented by Jiffy Lube race on Sunday.
Featured image via David Yeazell/USA TODAY Sports Images
