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Ryan Blaney hits the wall at Las Vegas after blown tire in practice

JHby:Jonathan Howard•03/15/25•

Jondean25

Ryan Blaney
Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Disaster for Ryan Blaney and the No. 12 team. Blaney lost control of his Ford Mustang and back right into the wall. This NASCAR weekend could not be off to a worse start for the 2023 champion.

Ryan Blaney is going to have to hope for a great backup car or some big repairs on this primary car. A blown right rear tire for Blaney was all it took on this hot and slick Las Vegas track.

This is going to be hard to bounce back from. However, Team Penske will either have a backup ready to go tomorrow or will get his primary car fixed up and ready to go. Don’t count Blaney out yet.

Here is the wreck via Steven Taranto of CBS Sports. Tough break for Blaney.

Ryan Blaney isn’t sure what caused the tire to blow. It appears, according to his team, that the primary car will be repaired. Also, the tire likely blew due to the setup the team had on the tires. Those pressures were a bit too extreme for the Vegas track.

Ryan Blaney breaks down blown tire at Las Vegas

Last fall, Ryan Blaney had a very similar situation to this incident. There is something about how the 12 team and Jonathan Hassler are setting up these tires.

“I hate blowing tires,” Blaney said to Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports after leaving the care center. He also talked about the wreck itself. It’s a familiar position for Blaney.

“Yeah I had to do the same thing last year in the fall race, unfortunately. Same problem, blowing a tire in practice. I thought our car was really good before that is the unfortunate part of it. They’ve got a lot of work cut out for them, I don’t know the damage to it. I’ve got to look and see when I get back there, and see if we can either fix that or have to have a backup. Hopefully, we don’t have to pull a backup out, that’s a lot of work. But it backed in pretty square, so hopefully, we can fix it. Yeah, hopefully, we can come up from the back tomorrow.”

Coming from the back won’t be impossible. It is better to be in the rear at Las Vegas than Martinsville, for instance. Ryan Blaney will have the opportunity to move up through the field if his team can give him a decent piece for Sunday.