Ryan Blaney owns as much as violent Tyler Reddick wreck that destroyed 23XI Racing star’s Toyota at Nashville: “I didn’t mean to do that”

Ryan Blaney took full responsibility for triggering a massive, violent wreck at the checkered flag during Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Nashville Superspeedway. The No. 12 driver destroyed Tyler Reddick’s Toyota and left Chase Elliott caught in the crossfire amid a furious three-wide battle for a top-five finish.

As the field rounded turn four on the final lap, the intensity peaked with multiple cars fighting for a strong finish. Blaney, the Team Penske driver, attempted to give Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet a push to clear the traffic ahead. However, the high-speed bump went awry, getting Elliott sideways. As the No. 9 slid sideways, it hooked Reddick’s No. 45, which resulted in the latter slamming the outside wall.

Soon after the race, Ryan Blaney didn’t deflect or hide behind typical excuses for the last-lap battle and apologized to the 23XI Racing driver. He said:

“My sincere apologies to Tyler. I was trying to push the #9 [Elliott] at the top of three (wide) and got Chase sideways, and ended up hooking Tyler, so I hope he’s okay. Gosh, I did not mean to do that. Hope he’s all right.”

Here’s a clip of the final lap battle between Ryan Blaney, Elliott, and Reddick:

Despite the chaotic and unfortunate ending, Blaney made sure to commend his Team Penske crew after finishing eighth. Meanwhile, Tyler Reddick was awarded a sixth-place finish.

Ryan Blaney sounds the alarm on Tyler Reddick’s massive points lead

Ryan Blaney offered a realistic assessment of the NASCAR Cup Series standings, questioning whether anyone in the garage can legitimately close the gap on Tyler Reddick’s commanding regular-season points advantage. The Penske star is skeptical about anyone catching the No. 45 team.

“Can anybody get there?”, Blaney said via Racer.com. “We’ve got over half the regular season to get there, and maybe it’s possible, maybe not. Then you have all these really close battles. At the top, there are some gaps, but then you get like fifth on back, and it’s a dogfight, and around that cutline is a dogfight.”

While Reddick and the 23XI Racing team have managed to pull away from the field, the Team Penske driver noted that the real chaos is brewing just below the top tier of the leaderboard.

After 14 starts, Ryan Blaney is 174 points behind Tyler Reddick at P4.