BLANEY INTO THE WALL!
The No. 12 is put 3-wide by @MartinTruex_Jr and @WilliamByron and gets the worst end of it off Turn 2.
The right-rear toe link is broken on the defending champion.#NASCAR #Goodyear400 pic.twitter.com/waj79kEDrb
— NASCAR on TSN (@NASCARonTSN) May 12, 2024
While battling for the fourth position on a Lap 129 restart in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway, Ryan Blaney got put into the outside wall after William Byron opted to put Blaney and Martin Truex Jr. into a three-wide situation entering Turn 1.
As the trio sped through the corner, Byron’s No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet skidded up the track, and slightly touched Truex, which sent Truex, who had decided to back out of the gas, into Blaney.
Blaney would tag the wall, and then would be tagged from behind by others that couldn’t slow from the incident. While his team would attempt to make repairs, Blaney’s day would come to an end as the Damaged Vehicle Policy clock would expire on pit road.
In addition to Blaney and Truex, Chris Buescher, Kyle Larson, Bubba Wallace, and Denny Hamlin suffered slight damage in the incident.
After being cleared from the infield care center, Blaney expressed frustration with Byron for causing the accident.
“The 24 took up more track than I would have liked, honestly,” Blaney said. “Kind of sandwiched the 19 into me. Really, really crappy end to the day. I thought we got pretty good.”
Blaney continued by saying, “Was kind of looking forward to the second half of the race, but never got a shot. But the guy that causes it, gets away Scott-free. That’s kind of what happens. Unfortunate end to our day.”
After the incident, it appeared that Blaney took a swipe at Byron’s car, but Blaney explains he wasn’t trying to hit Byron. He’ll save any potential retaliation for another day.
“I’m not going to hit him. I’ll save that for another time,” Blaney quipped. “I almost did on accident, actually. I got down on the apron, and the toe-link was busted, and I almost actually hit him, and I didn’t mean to. I was just trying to show my displeasure. We’ll see where it goes. I just wanted to show I wasn’t happy. I’ll have to watch the replay, but I kinda deserve to not be happy. He used up some track that I didn’t think he had to use up.”
