Ryan Blaney said on Tuesday that Ryan Preece was well within his rights over what transpired between them on Sunday in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.
He just wishes it was more eye-for-an-eye as it were.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Blaney said he ran into Preece first, and what television showed was just the retaliation for the initial contact. They were running 15th and 16th at the time. The retaliatory contact sent Blaney up the track and into the wall.
“TV didn’t show (that) I used him up pretty good in (Turns) 3 and 4,” Blaney said of Preece. “Kind of ran him up the racetrack. I ran him up more than I was planning on. I was planning on kind of taking some space, and I kind of ran him up more than I thought and kind of got him out of the groove. He was rightfully upset with that. I would have been, too.
“Then he got to me a lap later and got into me pretty good. In my mind, I deserved to get used up, for sure, for what I did. I was guilty as charged, but I don’t know if I deserved to get like junked for what I did.
“It was just one of those racing things. I know why he was upset. I used up a bunch of track and he was mad and he decided to retaliate. Like I said, he had every right to retaliate. I’m just like, ‘Man, you didn’t have to wreck me, like you can move me out of the way, just don’t wreck me.’ It’s just one of those things. Move on from it.”
Again, Blaney understands why it played out the way it did, and even if he didn’t feel like the punishment matched the crime, he isn’t going to harbor any long term resentment over it.
“He had every right to get back at me,” Blaney added. “What I did was I run him up the racetrack pretty bad. Like I said, I didn’t blame him for wanting to move me out of the way. How hard he hit me was a little excessive maybe because he caused me to wreck, but, you know, I deserved to get moved in some way for what I did.
“TV didn’t show that I used him up first. So, it wasn’t just he just run me over. I used (him) up pretty big the lap before, so I don’t want it to get skewed to where, oh, Preece just wrecked me. No, (it) was deserving for him laying the bumper to me for after what I did.”
Preece finished 12th while Blaney was ultimately scored 33rd.
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.