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Amid Celebrations for Kyle Busch, Apparent Tragic Mishap Involving Ryan Blaney Nearly Flew Under the Radar

Published 02/27/2023, 6:35 PM EST

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USA Today via Reuters

When the NASCAR Cup race at the Auto Club Speedway concluded, Kyle Busch dominated the headlines. Rightfully so, because this means that he has booked his Playoff berth and surpassed a few records along the way. One of them was the record for the most consecutive seasons with at least one win—a record held by Richard Petty. However, there were several other storylines in the race that went unnoticed. One of them involved Ryan Blaney and an unusual intruder on the race track.

As it turned out, a black cat somehow wandered onto the track while the race was on. Obviously, such incidents do happen and there’s no telling from where a stray might pop out. Sadly, things did not end well for the cat, as it seemingly got run over before anyone could rescue it. A few eagle-eyed fans with sharp cameras spotted the black cat sprinting across the track. Unfortunately, it appeared that poor old Ryan Blaney was unable to avoid the feline intruder.

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READ MORE: Bubba Wallace & Ryan Blaney Put $500 Million NASCAR Sale Under Heavy Scrutiny as Kyle Larson Goes Against the Grain on His Own Home Track

What makes people so sure that Ryan Blaney was the culprit?

According to a screen grab, there was a suspicious red stain on the front fender of Blaney’s car. One could argue that the red was part of his livery, but the #12 car is predominantly white in color, especially at the front.

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However, others had different theories that could potentially absolve Blaney of the crime. The runaway feline was spotted on the track during lap 65, which was the final lap of Stage 1.

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A few viewers pointed out that the red stain was probably from when Blaney spun and brushed the wall. In other words, he scraped a bit of red paint from the wall and it stuck on his car. However, no one is sure about the cat’s fate. In a sense, nobody knows whether it survived its excursion or got hit by Blaney or someone else. As for the Team Penske driver himself, he went on to finish the race in 26th place, which was a bit disappointing for him.

WATCH THIS STORY: Ryan Blaney & Bubba Wallace Deemed Favorites by NASCAR Fans to Repeat Jeff Gordon’s Impressive Feat

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Written by:

Dhruv George

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Dhruv George is a senior Motorsports author for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.
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Edited by:

Nischal Kandpal