NASCAR rescinds disqualification penalty to Ryan Blaney from Las Vegas

NASCAR has rescinded the disqualification penalty handed down to the No. 12 car piloted by Ryan Blaney following Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

In a statement released Monday, NASCAR cited “further review of the inspection process” in making the decision. All of Blaney’s stage and race finishing positions from Sunday’s race have been restored.

NASCAR on the decision to rescind the disqualification or Ryan Blaney and give him back his sixth-place finish: pic.twitter.com/uO2uI0LXYM

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) October 16, 2023

“After further review of the inspection process throughout this weekend’s events at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, NASCAR has rescinded the No. 12 disqualification penalty,” NASCAR wrote, via Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports. “Monday morning during its race weekend debrief, NASCAR discovered an issue with the damper template used for inspection. NASCAR then conducted a detailed investigation, and restored the No. 12’s stage and race finishing positions from Sunday.

“NASCAR has taken internal steps to remedy this issue moving forward.”

Blaney was originally disqualified for an illegal shock on his car. The front left shock did not meet standards and as a result, NASCAR disqualified the playoff driver. Blaney, one of the eight drivers remaining with a shot at winning the Cup Series championship, finished 6th at Las Vegas. He was 56 points below the cut-line for the Championship 4 after the disqualification, but now finds himself just 17 points back and seventh among the eight remaining title contenders, according to Motorsport.

“I thought we could have maybe run third,” Blaney said after the race, via John Newby of NBC Sports. “That was probably the best we were gonna get to, but lost some ground there on the last stop and ran out of laps to get it back. Overall, it wasn’t a bad effort. You’re trying to get every point that you can because all of them matter.”

Kyle Larson outlasts Ryan Blaney, field to win at Las Vegas

Blaney and the rest of the field were no match for Kyle Larson, who raced his No. 5 Chevrolet to victory lane at Las Vegas after leading 133 laps. Larson became the first driver to claim a spot in the Cup Series Championship 4 race at Phoenix Raceway on Nov. 5.

“This is really cool to get to race for the championship in a few weeks, and really glad I don’t have to stress these next two races,” Larson said after the race.