Ryan Blaney calls out NASCAR for ending his day early after Lap 1 wreck at Watkins Glen
What a disaster on Lap 1 at Watkins Glen. Ryan Blaney is out of the race and he is livid that NASCAR parked him without allowing repairs. Blaney could not understand why officials made him go to the garage without letting his team look at the car.
Ryan Blaney entered the day +33 points on the cutline. He could see that cushion completely melt away today. And there is nothing that he can really do about it.
In the garage, Blaney was beside himself. He wanted to at least have a chance to get repairs done to his car.
“Give us a chance to fix it, how are they going to dictate if we’re done or not?” Blaney said on the TV broadcast in the garage. “They have no idea the damage. They said because I couldn’t drive it back to the pit box we’re done, but if you have four flats you get towed back to the pit box, you can’t drive it back. So, I don’t know what’s going on, why they won’t even give us a shot to work on it, but I don’t agree with it.
“I don’t even know what happened honestly, stacked up, I caught someone on the left front and it completely broke the steering arm. I don’t know if we could have fixed it but that’s the frustrating part, just don’t even give us a chance you just end our day and you’re not letting us get to look at it before it’s in the garage? That just, stinks.”
So, it’s an early end for Ryan Blaney. He isn’t the only driver in the NASCAR Playoffs who was involved in the Lap 1 wreck, though. Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell got caught up in the mess. Disaster.
Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin caught up in Lap 1 wreck
On Lap 1 at Watkins Glen there is big trouble for two NASCAR Playoff drivers, Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney. Worst case scenario. Blaney is going to be done on the day while Hamlin will try to make repairs and salvage his afternoon.
This is the last thing that the defending champion and Hamlin wanted to see. Going into the bus stop, things got crowded and then disaster struck. That wreck, as Blaney noted above, took out his steering arm. With that damage he was likely done anyway, but the No. 12 team didn’t even get the opportunity to make repairs.
Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin did make repairs. He is still in this race, and he is going to have to pull off some kind of a miracle. Hamlin had a fragile points position entering the race today and now, he could be facing a must-win race at Bristol.
The defending Cup Series champion is being put in a tough position. Ryan Blaney will now wait and see his points cushion fade away this afternoon. With each stage, each lap, he is losing points to other drivers.