Ryan Blaney opened up the Round of 8 with a solid sixth-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but that result has been wiped from the board after the left-front shock did not meet the proper, specified length.
Blaney, who scored 39 total points (31 from finishing sixth, plus eight stage points), will instead be credited with 36th-place and one point from Sunday’s (Oct. 15) South Point 400.
Everyone that finished behind Blaney will gain one position and one point. Every top-11 driver that finished behind Blaney in the first two stages will gain an extra point as well.
With Blaney’s DQ, here’s how many points that each playoff driver gained on the cut line.
| +2 | William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick |
| +1 | Martin Truex Jr., Chris Buescher |
| 0 | Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson |
With Kyle Larson locked in, William Byron (+11), Denny Hamlin (+4) and Martin Truex Jr. (+3) are above the cut. Christopher Bell (-3), Tyler Reddick (-15), Chris Buescher (-23) and Blaney (-56) are below it.
Team Penske and the No. 12 team will have the opportunity to appeal the disqualification.
Stephen Stumpf is the NASCAR Content Director for Frontstretch and is a three-year veteran of the site. His weekly column is “Stat Sheet,” and he formerly wrote "4 Burning Questions" for three years. He also writes commentaries, contributes to podcasts, edits articles and is frequently at the track for on-site coverage.
Find Stephen on Twitter @stephen_stumpf
That 12 team always seems to be shooting themselves in the foot.
if blaney does not win a race next two races if i were roger penske i’d keep the 12-22-2 home for phoneix race , passing inspection pre race and not post race someone or one’s in inspection dropped the ball , the infraction in case had no advantage to the race car , so if people say they cheered would they not find a piece that would create a advantage
That’ll show ’em!!!
LMAO
I imagine there were plenty of phone calls made to the gambling addiction hotline.
Can someone please clarify forme? I know that Nascar does pre race inspections. I assume that they give pretty involved inspections at that time. Many cars are sent back to fix an issue and back through inspection. How did they miss a shock issue in pre race inspection, yet find it post race? What, then is the purpose of the pre race inspections if they either aren’t in depth, or they can’t find an issue that basically DQs a finish?
Maybe the pre race inspector who missed the infraction needs to be replaced or fined.
Just how many cars does NASCAR tear down in post-race inspections? Checking the top 2 or 3 makes sense, but going all the way down to 6th place? That’s very odd. I wonder if NASCAR had a tip from a competing team to check for this issue on the #12? And how much of a performance advantage would this (allegedly) out-of-spec shock make? Did it make Blaney’s car too low?
I agree with sb. NASCAR needs to do a better job with pre-race inspections to avoid these embarrassing after-race DQ’s. NASCAR’s heavy-handed overuse of their arcane rule book is getting frustrating, fast.
I always quote the extremely relevant for NA$CAR Indiana Jones line “I’m making this up as I go!”
I would imagine they would tear down all of the playoff cars to make sure they’re “legal.” Especially if they finish top-ten.
They don’t tear down the cars in pre-race inspection, so something like this would not be noticed. You have to physically remove the shock and measure it, which they would only do in post-race inspection.
I come from the future, but after further review, the Blaney DQ was reversed and points were restored. It seems the pre-race shock measuring template was out-of-spec.
Thank you.
Is he driving a Ford?
Dang, wonder if Roger can find anything worth appealing in this. I want Denny to blow a front tire on lap 2 next week and demolish the front end for the race. Think his head would be spinning at Martinsville.
don’t root for people to get hurt. not cool.
Where did I root for him to get hurt ! I want his car out of the race. But if he bites his tongue off I’m not going to shed a tear, cool or not…
So what’s different, I root for that to happen every week. LOL
#ABH
Karma is going to get you, in the form of blowing a tire in your street car. You’re not cool.
Now I have to root for Blaney and Buescher to win the next two races and Byron to finish 2nd in each one. But Nascar will not allow a final without a Toyota in it. They want Denny.