LEBANON, Tenn: Ryan Blaney walked away uninjured from a frightening crash during Sunday night’s Ally 400 at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway.
Blaney destroyed his No. 12 Pennzoil | Menards Ford Mustang after spun by Kyle Busch following a restart in Stage 2 that sent Blaney spinning across the infield grass before making contact with the unprotected concrete wall – just past pit road.
After making contact with the wall, Blaney radioed to his Team Penske team: “Holy shit, I need help.”
The Coca-Cola 600 race winner was able to gingerly climb from his battered race car where he briefly sat on the ground to collect his breath before making the mandatory trip to the infield care center.
The eight-time Cup Series winner was quickly released from the infield care center where he described what transpired on the race track.
“Yeah, I feel better now. It’s a shame, ending our night early,” said Blaney. “I thought we actually finally got decent air at the start of the second stage. I don’t really know what happened. Someone checked up on the restart I guess. I kind of checked up, got hit from behind.”
“I didn’t know if they were wrecking, and I just couldn’t get it straightened out. When I got out of the grass, I thought I was going to come back around, and that I’d be ok. Just never got back right.”
Blaney admitted that Sunday’s crash was the hardest of his NASCAR career.
“Hardest hit I’ve ever had in my life,” he added. “Happy to be all right, but it sucks for the Pennzoil Ford Mustang. Stinks to go home early.”
Blaney said he had hoped to be able to steer out of the crash once he transitioned from grass to asphalt, but his car never reacted.
“I honestly thought I was going to be fine,” he explained. “I really thought I was going to be ok once I got past the grass, back on the asphalt. I thought I could kind of swing back around when I got off the brake. Just never did. It was just at that weird angle.
“I thought I could get back on the straight until the last second — just never came back.”
The High Point, N.C. native also rightfully vented his frustration about the wall not being protected by a SAFER barrier which is designed to lessen the impact upon contact.
“I don’t know why there’s no safer barrier there,” Blaney told reporters at the infield care center. “That’s pretty ridiculous, honestly.”
“I’m sure they’ll put one on it after this. It sucks that things like that have to happen, someone hit a wall head-on like that and then you’re like, ‘Oh, we’ll put a SAFER barrier on it now.
“It’s like why are you not doing the whole track? I’ll pay for the (expletive) thing to put it on there.”
Following the Ally 400, NASCAR issued the following statement regarding the crash: “NASCAR safety engineers work closely with safety experts on the implementation of barriers around the track. As we do following every race weekend, we will evaluate all available data and make any necessary improvements.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01 or email [email protected].
