Ryan Blaney was in the moment when he got frustrated with NASCAR over towing him to pit road and therefore eliminating him from the race after his first lap crash at Watkins Glen.
Blaney was collected in the early crash when Corey Lajoie tagged Kyle Busch and triggered an incident that also involved Denny Hamlin. Blaney and Hamlin are both playoff drivers. Hamlin drove away and finished 23rd but Blaney could not so NASCAR ordered the tow truck to take them off the track.
That results in an automatic DNF and Blaney felt NASCAR did not adhere to its own rules.
Blaney said he felt differently shortly after the interview.
“When we got the damage and broke the part, I thought and honestly, all of us on the 12 team thought that ‘Hey, bring us back to our stall and let’s at least take a look at it and see if we can fix it.’ And then when they told us we were done and they put us in the garage [and] we’re out, I was still confused,” Blaney said Wednesday during a segment on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
We all were talking to NASCAR and everybody didn’t really understand the rule. When I gave my TV interview, I didn’t know the rule until I got back to the garage. We sat down and kind of went through the rulebook and NASCAR did everything right by the rulebook.
“If you are involved in an incident and you cannot drive it back to the pits, unless you have four flat tires and you cannot move, then you are done. We didn’t have four flats. I couldn’t drive it back. By the rule, you are out. But I honestly did not know that at the time. That’s kind of why I was the way I was in my interview, kind of confused. But yeah, NASCAR did everything the rule book says. So, I don’t blame them for that at all and I’m happy we cleared up some of the confusion afterwards. I wish I would’ve settled down beforehand so I didn’t come off angry in that way.”
