'It Stinks': Ryan Blaney Frustrated by NASCAR's Damaged Vehicle Policy
Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series Go Bowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International was compelling from start to finish and featured an incredible duel for the win between Chris Buescher and Shane van Gisbergen. However, in what was an up and (mostly) down day for the 16 Playoff contenders, defending NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney, who saw his race come to an end without completing a single lap, was left questioning the NASCAR Cup Series Rule Book, more specifically, the damaged vehicle policy.
On the opening lap of Sunday's race, Corey LaJoie made contact with Kyle Busch in the bus stop, which triggered a multicar melee, which swept up several Playoff contenders including Christopher Bell, who went spinning, and Denny Hamlin who had nowhere to go and plowed into Busch's spinning race car. Then, there was Blaney, who was attempting to avoid the crash and was positioned to the right of the carnage.
Brad Keselowski veered to the right in an effort to avoid the crash, and barely caught the front left corner of Blaney's car. While the contact appeared minimal, it was enough to render Blaney's car undrivable as it broke the steering column on his No. 12 Team Penske Ford Mustang Dark Horse. Without Blaney being able to drive the car back to the pit area, per the NASCAR Rule Book, his day was done.
Here is a video of the incident that ended Blaney's day:
CHAOS ON THE OPENING LAP!
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) September 15, 2024
RYAN BLANEY, DENNY HAMLIN, CHRISTOPHER BELL AND MORE INVOLVED!
đź“ş : USA Network pic.twitter.com/Wh5ceei2hR
Back in the garage area, Blaney was seething about the hand that he and his team had been dealt. And while they ultimately may not have even been able to get their car repaired to return to the race, the fact that they were done for the day without his skilled team getting a chance to look over the issues plaguing his car didn't sit well with him.
“They didn’t give us a chance to fix it. How are they going to dictate if we are done or not," Blaney questioned. "They have no idea of the damage."
The damaged vehicle policy was installed to prevent the days where cars that were destroyed beyond what was deemed safe to return to a race were taped up and put back on track so a driver could complete a lap or two in an effort to gain a couple of additional championship points.
Unfortunately, there are situations that arrise in a black and white ruling like the damaged vehicle policy, where cars that aren't horribly damaged visually, like Blaney's, are done for the day without a chance to repair them.
Blaney is more confused about the situation because he equates the issue that he suffered more to a driver suffering a flat tire on the track and being unable to drive back to pit road rather than being involved in the big one at Daytona or Talladega.
"They said we were done because I couldn’t drive it back to the pit box, but if you have four flats, you get towed back to the pit box. You can’t drive that back. I don't know what is going on or why they won’t give us a shot to work on it but I don't agree with it," Blaney sharply pointed.
Blaney has a point as he wasn't even involved in the main carnage. His incident was a miniature 'side-skirmish' which was running in parralel to the big crash on Lap 1. It begs the question should there be some judgement written into the damaged vehicle policy? Should common sense be invoked in these situations? Or is it better that it's a black and white call?
Who knows the true answer, as there are arguments to be made for both, but it certainly seems odd that Blaney was doored on the opening lap, and was instantly done for the day, while William Byron's car flew through the air, landed on Brad Keselowski's car, and Byron was able to finish the race.
At the end of the day, Blaney just wanted his team to have a chance to assess the damage to see if they could return to the race track, but under the current NASCAR Cup Series Rule Book, that simply wasn't possible.
"I don't even know what happened, honestly. We stacked up and I caught someone in the left front and it completely broke the steering. I don't know if we could have fixed it. But that is the frustrating part, just didn’t even give us a chance and just ended our day without even letting us look at it before it is in the garage. It stinks,” Blaney explained.
Fortunately, Blaney entered the day with a massive 45-point advantage over the Playoff cutline, and he was ranked second in the Playoff standings coming into the Go Bowling at The Glen. With a large portion of the Playoff contenders falling into trouble throughout Sunday's race, Blaney was able to minimize the damage of his Lap 1 exit. But even on a day where nearly every Playoff contender had issues, Blaney still lost six spots on the Playoff Grid, and he now enters the ever-unpredictable Bristol Motor Speedway with just a 29-point buffer over Denny Hamlin, who is the first driver outside of the Playoff cutline.
Reminder, Hamlin has won the last two races on the concrete layout at Bristol Motor Speedway, including last year's night race. If Blaney ends up failing to advance to the Round of 12 this weekend at Bristol, it very well could be thanks to NASCAR's damaged vehicle policy, which knocked him out of Sunday's Go Bowling at The Glen on Lap 1.
Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.