Ryan Blaney is unhappy with William Byron after the Darlington incident

DARLINGTON, S.C. – Ryan Blaney said he will save revenge on William Byron “for another time” after Byron’s actions caused Blaney to hit the wall and finish last in Sunday’s Cup race at Darlington Raceway.

Blaney started sixth again on lap 129 when Byron went down in Turn 2 behind Martin Truex Jr. and Blaney. Byron moved up the stretch and Truex hit Blaney, sending Blaney into the wall.

During the caution, Blaney came back onto the track and rode alongside Byron.

Asked why he didn’t hit Byron’s car, Blaney said: “I’m not going to hit him. I’ll save that for another time.

“Actually, I almost did it by accident. When I put the apron on, the toe connection was broken. I almost hit him even though I didn’t want to. I just wanted to express my displeasure, so we’ll see where this goes. I just wanted to show that I wasn’t happy. After watching the replay, I kind of deserved not to be happy. He used up a good stretch that I thought he didn’t need to use up.”

Asked what Byron shouldn’t have done, Blaney said: “First of all, don’t push it in three widths in a place where you can’t run three widths. If he wants to do that, that’s fine, but it’s your responsibility to leave space. You have to leave room for the two best cars.

“You pushed the bottom of three (wide), you have to leave space and it was outside the dotted line until we were already at the demolition. He disappeared and pushed (Truex) into me.

“We’re as high as we can get, so I don’t know if he thought he had enough room or if he gave us enough room and then didn’t or what. That’s exactly what I thought: you’re responsible for these two guys if you push the guys in threes. You have to act like there are two cars on top of you.”

After the race, Byron, who finished sixth, said of the Blaney incident: “I felt like I was ahead of them. The exit is really narrow there. I hate it if I came up a little bit. I was surprised I was even in this spot. I felt like I’d never get to the end of a three-lane there, but the lane was there in (Turn) 1 and my car turned really well. I almost escaped from Martin and then yeah, I hate that it happened. I don’t want to crash, especially early in the race, so I didn’t really expect that to happen. I probably could have given a little more space, it just gets very, very tight in there.”

Blaney started 17th. During the first stage he was 18th before the green flag pit cycle began on lap 35. He was the last to pit this cycle, stopping on lap 45. With fresher tires in the second half of the stage, he ran up to eighth at the end of the stage.