Calling in Blaney over window net ‘would have been pretty out of character,’ says NASCAR’s Miller
Lesley Ann Miller/Motorsport Images
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emailBy Kelly Crandall | May 23, 2022 7:27 AM ET

NASCAR’s Scott Miller said officials clearly saw Ryan Blaney with two hands on the steering wheel and the window net up coming to the overtime attempt in Sunday night’s All-Star Race.

“(There was) no way for us to know if he got it 100% latched or not,” said Miller, NASCAR senior vice president of competition. “And at that point in time, no way we can be certain that he didn’t get it latched, so there’s no way we could call him down pit road at that time.”

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Blaney powers through false-finish and overtime to win All-Star million

Blaney thought he won the All-Star Race in regulation, which is why he took the window net down on the backstretch. But he instead was just feet from crossing the finish line when the caution was displayed, and the special rules of the race dictated it must finish under the green flag.

Despite his best attempts, Blaney never appeared to get his window net properly fastened. However, he said he wasn’t going to pit for the issue to be resolved and that NASCAR deemed it safe on the backstretch coming to the restart.

Miller said it would have “gone out of character” for officials to have Blaney come down pit road to check if the window net was fastened.

“There was some speculation about doing that up there (in the tower), but we saw it, and no way we could have known it was latched properly or not,” Miller said.

“If it was hanging down on the door, if he couldn’t get it to where it was up and we had some doubt that it was latched, then we would have had to do something with it because we wouldn’t have allowed him to start if it was laying down on the door.”

On whether NASCAR would have brought Blaney down pit road to fasten the window net and allowed him to keep the lead, Miller said, “We speculated about doing that, but that would have been pretty out of character to bring someone down pit road and then put them back in the spot that they came out of.”

So if we brought in the race leader Blaney over some BS complaint, it would have effectively taken him out of first place. You think this is IMSA or something???? where they let you race for 24 hours and then disqualify you because you drilled a hole in the body at some point?

Are you a bunch of dumb a*****?

Miller admitted that NASCAR acted “probably prematurely” in calling the final caution after Ricky Stenhouse Jr. got into the wall off Turn 2.

“Everybody knows that we probably prematurely called that yellow flag,” Miller said. “The way that works in the tower is that we’re all watching around the racetrack and obviously, the race director who has the button and makes the call is the final say of when the yellow gets put out. We all watch, and we saw and mentioned the car against the wall, riding the wall down the back straightaway, and the race director looked up, and I’m not sure what he saw, but he immediately put (the yellow flag) out.

“So, wish we wouldn’t have done that, but we did that, and we’ll own that we probably prematurely put that caution out.”

 

"You have to play by the rules" - Hamlin

Matthew T. Thacker/NKP/Motorsport Images
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emailBy Kelly Crandall | May 23, 2022 11:27 AM ET

While Denny Hamlin believes Ryan Blaney deserved to win the All-Star Race, a rule is a rule when it comes to the window net, and Hamlin said that rule was broken.

Blaney won the race in overtime Sunday night with a window net that was not properly fastened. Believing he’d already won the race as he came to the checkered flag in regulation time, Blaney lowered the window net before being told the race had to finish under green. He was just feet from crossing the finish line.

Failing to get the window net back up, as a driver cannot do from inside the car, Blaney got it hooked as best he could before going back green. He cleared Hamlin on the restart and drove to the win. Hamlin finished second.

“It’s tough because he deserved to win the race, but if you mess up and you break a rule – not intentionally – but there are rules, and we have rules in place for safety,” Hamlin said. “My crew chief is taking four weeks off because of safety just because we left the wheel nuts off . I nearly crashed (Blaney) off of Turn 2 when I got squeezed there. If I send him into traffic and he’s got no window net, then what, right? Luckily that didn’t happen, and NASCAR avoids another controversy because there wasn’t a wreck in a car with no window net.”

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Calling in Blaney over window net ‘would have been pretty out of character,’ says NASCAR’s Miller

Hamlin asserted what he saw of Blaney’s No.12 window net was not a judgment call.

“You have to play by the rules,” Hamlin said.

The rulebook states: “all window net assembly fasteners must be properly tightened and remain tight during an event.

“The window net must remain flat and tight when in the raised position. Bunching, twisting, or rolling of the window net is not permitted. All 1.0 inch square openings must remain 1.0 inch square openings when in the raised position.”
Never should have been a yellow in the first place. They put Blaney in the situation he was in. To make up for it they let him break a rule. 2 wrongs don’t make a right.
Blaney W, NASCAR L

— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin)

“I’m just frustrated that we have a rule,” Hamlin said. “It can’t be a convenience rule. We’re taking four weeks off, my crew chief is, because of safety. Was that because we left the wheel nuts off? Is that more serious than a window net? (Hamlin are you a dumass?) I almost wrecked Blaney off Turn 2, and he had no window net up, so what happens when I wreck him and we go head-on into him? We’ve got a problem then.

“It’s just frustrating because we just have no consistency in our officiating.”

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'NASCAR deemed window net safe' - Blaney

Blaney admitted he wasn’t going to pit for the window net. He also said NASCAR deemed it safe on the backstretch coming to the overtime attempt, and Blaney himself felt safe with the way it was hooked.

“Again, we just ask to play by the rules,” said Hamlin. “If you tell us what the rules are, we’re going to play by them. You can’t just change them, I mean, you can if you own the series, but it’s not fair to the other competitors. If you make a mistake and he [Blaney] clearly made a mistake, and he should have won the race, but if you make a mistake, you have to play by the rules.

“And if it breaks a rule, then you have to abide by it, and the results are the results. There are many races that have been lost because someone makes a mistake. Just because morally he should have won doesn’t mean you should win.”
---------------------------------------------------------
OK slick! How about you unhook your window net at the finish line and then you go race IMSA so you can screw yourself!

 

Blaney powers through false-finish and overtime to win All-Star million

Jasen Vinlove/Motorsport Images
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emailBy Kelly Crandall | May 22, 2022 11:15 PM ET

Ryan Blaney became a first-time All-Star Race winner Sunday night at Texas Motor Speedway with a half-fastened window net, plus surviving an overtime restart.

Blaney dominated the race upon taking the lead on lap 57 as he led the final 84 laps. He was easily cruising toward the win by over two seconds on Denny Hamlin when the caution flew just moments before he crossed the finish line.
Caution came before Ryan Blaney took the checkered flag. We are going back racing in Texas. https://t.co/tV2kVuruLV pic.twitter.com/I27rJQfghp

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX)

NASCAR rules state the All-Star Race must finish under green and the caution was displayed with Blaney just feet from the finish line. Blaney thought the race was over and had lowered his window net. Under caution, he tried feverishly to get it re-hooked but to no avail. Before coming to the restart, the window net was somewhat fastened, and Blaney then cleared Hamlin off Turn 2 to take the victory.

“It was about to be real bad for us – I thought the race was over. Everyone thought the race was over and I already had my window net down,” Blaney said. “I do want to thank NASCAR for letting me kind of fix it and not make us come down pit road. Yeah, that was really tough, and then having to do it all over again after getting that window net back up there… Great car; Jonathan Hassler and everybody on this No. 12 group did a great job.

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“This is cool. I know it’s not a points-winning race but it’s going to be a lot of fun. The party is going to be pretty big.”

The final caution was for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. brushing into the wall off Turn 2.

This is Blaney’s first win in six All-Star Race starts.

Hamlin finished second. Austin Cindric won the second stage and finished third. Joey Logano finished fourth and Daniel Suarez completed the top five.

Logano and the No. 22 Team Penske team won the $100,000 bonus at the end of Stage 2 for having the best overall time on pit road, including their four-tire stop. As a result, Logano started the final stage third.

Alex Bowman finished sixth, AJ Allmendinger seventh, Chris Buescher eighth, Brad Keselowski ninth and Christopher Bell 10th.

Five drivers failed to finish the race.

Erik Jones crashed in Turn 4 in the final stage. Kyle Busch, who won the first stage, Ross Chastain, and Chase Elliott were eliminated in the second stage when Busch had a right rear tire go down and was hit by Chastain who collected Elliott. Kyle Larson was eliminated at the end of the first stage when he blew a tire and crashed.

There were three lead changes among four drivers and eight caution flags.

 

Kyle Busch knocked out of All-Star Race in dramatic fashion

Rusty Jarrett / Motorsport Images
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emailBy Kelly Crandall | May 22, 2022 9:50 PM ET

Kyle Busch went from leading the All-Star Race to being involved in a wild three-car wreck in a matter of moments when the right rear tire went down on his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Denny Hamlin, nicknamed "Pussy Hamlin" complained that the rules say the tire must have air! Rules are rules! Don't you call ME a pussy, you pussy!

Busch was leading at Texas Motor Speedway coming to three laps to go in the second stage. His car wiggled off Turn 4 with the right rear down, and he began to slow on the frontstretch.

Austin Cindric got around Busch on the inside just past the start/finish line to take the race lead, but Ross Chastain was not as lucky. The No. 1 drove into the driver’s side of Busch’s car and went airborne.

Chastain’s car landed and came back up the track into Turn 1, hitting Chase Elliott in the left rear. Chastain hit the wall while Elliott spun and impacted the wall with the left side of his car.
Ross Chastain slams into Kyle Busch at Texas and launches off the No. 18 car. Wow. He's okay. pic.twitter.com/3QSt8GdPVj

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX)

“It felt like the driver of the No. 1 car chose the wrong lane to go,” Chastain said. “My World Wide Express car was tight all night and [I was] just managing the tightness and saw Kyle had an issue like a tire down. I guessed left and I should have guessed right.

“Big hits; big hit into Kyle. I didn’t think the wall would hurt as bad as it did…but I’d already hit the No. 18 and the No. 9. Tough break, but fast cars.”

All three drivers were taken out of the race but uninjured.

Busch started from the pole and had led all 47 laps until the crash.

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Calling in Blaney over window net ‘would have been pretty out of character,’ says NASCAR’s Miller

“Just got a flat tire off [Turn] 4; the right rear’s flat,” Busch said. “Unfortunate for our guys, everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota, M&M’s. We had a really fast race car; a great race car; led all the laps up to that point, obviously. So disappointing to not be able to finish it out and go race for the million bucks.”

“I saw the No. 18 had a problem and then I saw the No. 1 hit him really hard,” Elliott said. “I just didn’t give him enough room. I knew he was going to go straight; I just didn’t realize he was going to go that far right that quick. I just kind of misjudged it. It was really avoidable on my end. I just kind of messed up and didn’t get the gap shot quick enough.

“I hate it. I thought our No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevy was surprisingly pretty good for me at Texas, so I was pretty excited about it. [I was] looking forward to getting going and seeing what we had here towards the end. I thought we were sitting in a really good spot with strategy and things like that. We’ll try again next week.”

 

Ryan Blaney roars to first All-Star Race victory at Texas

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Holly Cain NASCAR Wire Service May 22, 2022 at 10:55 PMFORT WORTH, Texas — Ryan Blaney won his first career NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race on Sunday night at Texas Motor Speedway, earning a $1 million payday in the annual fan favorite non-points event. And he and his team celebrated twice.

Blaney’s No. 12 Team Penske Ford ultimately beat Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Toyota by 0.266 seconds in an overtime finish. But at one point, Blaney thought he may have taken the checkered flag twice — a caution flag flew the first time he was approaching the finish line in regulation — only seconds before he crossed the line.

RELATED: Official results | At-track photos

He and his team thought he had won the race, not realizing the yellow light was on for an incident involving Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on the backstretch. Moments after cruising across the finish line, Blaney unstrapped the driver’s side window netting preparing to celebrate the big win with his team, which was high-fiving one another and jumping onto pit road to applaud the apparent victory.

NASCAR, however, ruled with video evidence that the caution light had activated for the Stenhouse on-track incident – yards before Blaney actually crossed the finish line.

As the cars made laps on the 1.5-mile track preparing for the overtime restart, Blaney could be seen trying to refasten the driver’s side safety net with one hand, steering the car under caution with the other. After finally getting the net secured, the race restarted and Blaney pulled away from the field going down the backstretch to take the checkered flag — the 26th different driver to win NASCAR’s prestigious All-Star event.

“It was about to be real bad for us, I thought the race was over,” Blaney said. “Everyone thought the race was over. I already had my window net down. I do want to thank NASCAR for letting me kind of fix it and not make us come down pit road. But yeah, that was really tough. Then having to do it all over again after trying to get that window net back up there.
Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images“Great car, (crew chief) Jonathan Hassler, everybody on this 12 group did a great job. I know it’s not a points-winning race. But it’s going to be a lot of fun. Party is going to be pretty big.”

The runner-up, Hamlin, was unhappy with the extra accommodation — the extended laps under caution — to allow Blaney to get the safety net back up and secured.

“You know, it’s tough because he deserved to win the race, but if you mess up and you break a rule – not intentionally, but there’s rules and we have rules in place for safety,” Hamlin said. “My crew chief is taking four weeks off (a penalty from a pit-road infraction earlier in the season) because of safety.

“I nearly crashed (Blaney) off of Turn 2 when I got squeezed there. If I send him into traffic and he’s got no window net, then what, right? Luckily, that didn’t happen.”

Not only did the 28-year-old North Carolinian hoist the winner’s trophy, Blaney put in the effort on track all evening to deserve it. His 84 laps led was most in the field, and he won Stage 3.

He ran up front all race and was fortunate to stay out of some early race drama involving winners of four of the last five All-Star Races.

Last year’s All-Star Race winner, Kyle Larson, was eliminated only 11 laps into the second stage when his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet blew a right-front tire, sending him hard into the wall. He nursed the car through the infield to pit road but had to retire.

Only eight laps later, Kyle Busch — who had led every lap of the race at that time (47 laps) and won Stage 1 — suffered a tire problem and slowed toward the inside of the track. Ross Chastain, who was running second at the time guessed wrong on which lane Busch would slow into and hit him on the left side, slid up the track and into Chase Elliott’s No.9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet before hitting the wall.

Busch’s pole-winning No. 18 Toyota was unable to continue as was Chastain’s No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet and Elliott’s Chevy.

“Felt like the driver of the 1 car chose the wrong lane to go,” Chastain said, managing a smile as he left the infield care center. “Our car was tight all night and just managing the tightness and saw Kyle have an issue, like a tire down, and I guessed left, and I should have guessed right. Big hits.

“Tough break. But fast cars.”

MORE: Stage 2 crash ousts All-Star favorites

NASCAR Cup Series rookie Austin Cindric, this year’s Daytona 500 winner, finished third in this first All-Star Race, followed by Team Penske teammate Joey Logano — giving the team three cars among the top-four finishers. Logano’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford over-the-wall crew also collected a $100,000 bonus for the quickest time on pit road during a mandatory four-tire stop for all teams after Stage 2. That perk also placed Logano third for the final-stage start.

Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suárez, who advanced out of the All-Star Open race held earlier Sunday evening, finished fifth. Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman was sixth followed by A.J. Allmendinger, Chris Buescher, Brad Keselowski and Christopher Bell.

Suárez was the best finisher from the three drivers who advanced from the 50-lap All-Star Open preliminary, with Chris Buescher and Stenhouse finishing eighth and 19th, respectively. Petty GMS Motorsports’ Erik Jones secured an All-Star berth through an online vote by fans; he crashed in the final stage and finished 20th.

The NASCAR Cup Series’ next event is also its longest, with the Coca-Cola 600 scheduled Sunday (6 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM) at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Note: Post-race inspection in the Cup Series garage was completed without any issues found, confirming Blaney’s victory.