Ryan Blaney pit crew member details fuel issue that decided Gateway

his grasp during this past Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway until he didn’t.

Blaney, who inherited the lead during the final round of green flag pit stops, came around Turn 4 with two laps remaining holding a sizable lead over Team Penske teammate Austin Cindric. But as Blaney got set to take the white flag, his No. 12 Ford ran out of gas. Instead of getting his first win of the season, Blaney finished P24. Cindric, meanwhile, passed Blaney and took the checkered flag.

Ryan Flores, tire changer for the No. 12 team, said on Corey LaJoie’s “Stacking Pennies” podcast this week that it was a miscalculation of how much fuel was in Blaney’s tank that cost them the race.

It was just the calculations,” Flores said. “And there’s so much that goes into that. I looked at Twitter once and it was, ‘Everybody needs to be fired!’ But there’s so much that goes into that.

Look at fuel density. Look at how much hotter it was when we raced than when we practiced. Like, you’re talking 10 to 20 degrees, and then that changes the density of fuel. That factors into your fuel mileage.