Two former NASCAR Cup champions had a surprising run-in with each other during Sunday's race at WWT Raceway (Gateway).
While battling for fifth position near the end of Stage 2, Kyle Larson made an aggressive lunge to the inside of Ryan Blaney. He slid up the track and made contact with Blaney, fully sending the No. 12 Team Penske Ford around into a spin.
While Blaney rebounded to finish fourth and now sits a comfortable 42 points above the cutline, he was still confused by the incident. As a result, he approached Larson after the race and TV cameras caught the drivers having a cordial discussion about what transpired before Larson commented to the media.
"I just wanted to know what I did to deserve it," said Blaney. "He just said he made a mistake. That's fine. Make mistakes. But like at the end of the day, I still got turned. Came from all the way up the bottom of the racetrack, hit me in he left rear. I know he most likely didn't mean to do it, but it happened anyway.
"That's one I've got to remember. I was happy we bounced back, not to get turned around, did a good job of coming out where we need to be. Having a good enough car to get back to fourth. Proud of the effort."
Larson admits "I messed up"
Kyle Larson gets into Ryan Blaney and the tempers are HOT. 🔥
— Motorsport (@Motorsport) September 7, 2025
🎥: @NASCAR pic.twitter.com/7q29X6nakh
Larson finished 12th, and also sits in a solid spot with 60 points between himself and the cutline. He took full responsibility for the incident, which only hurt Blaney by denying him a handful of stage points in the end.
"I just told him I messed up," said Larson. "I wasn't meaning obviously to go in there and hit him. The lap before I had got in there and got inside of him, slid up, got to his door, got him tight, got to where I could race him down the frontstretch.
"I was just trying to do that again. I was a little further back into three than I was the lap before. Just misjudged the point of where I wasn't going to get next to him and tuck in. I just clipped him."
He continued: "Yeah, all on me. But wasn't intentional at all. I hope he understands that. Obviously I hurt his day where he could have gained more points.”
