Ryan Blaney’s day in the Ally 400 race at Nashville Superspeedway came to an abrupt end when he was involved in a crash on Lap 146. The accident occurred when Brad Keselowski experienced issues accelerating his car, leading to a chain reaction.
Blaney lost control of his vehicle and slid towards the inside of the track, ultimately colliding head-on with the unprotected inside wall. It was a severe impact since there was no safer barrier in place. Blaney expressed his disappointment, stating, “I’m sure they will put one on it after this. It sucks that things like that have to happen and someone hit the wall head-on like that. Then they are like we’ll put a safer barrier on it now.”
Unfortunately, Blaney finished last in the race, with his day cut short due to the crash. NASCAR addressed the incident, stating, “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.”
A hard hit for Ryan Blaney on the restart.
Take a look at what happened. #NASCAR
📺 : @nbc pic.twitter.com/tP7UZvTJPS
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) June 26, 2023
Safety is a top priority for NASCAR, but lapses can occasionally occur. Ryan Blaney’s recent wreck highlighted the importance of track safety and raised questions as to why safer barriers were not installed in the specific area where the accident took place.
Fortunately, Blaney walked away unharmed from the incident, but it reignited concerns about driver safety. After being examined at the infield care center and given a clean bill of health, Blaney expressed his frustration with the safety oversight at the racetrack.
Chase Elliott comments on Ryan Blaney's hard hit:
"Seems like we always find a way to find that one [wall] area that's exposed."
📹 @stephen_stumpf pic.twitter.com/khFiqpuK1E
— Frontstretch (@Frontstretch) June 26, 2023
Blaney commented, “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.”
NASCAR statement on Blaney hitting wall with no SAFER: “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.”
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) June 26, 2023
He further emphasized the absence of a safer barrier, calling it “ridiculous” and describing it as the hardest hit he has ever experienced. Despite his personal safety, Blaney expressed disappointment for his team and the premature end to their race.
NASCAR later issued a statement regarding the lack of safer barriers. They stated that their safety engineers work closely with experts to implement track barriers and reassured that they would evaluate all available data to make necessary improvements.
The incident occurred on Lap 147, right after a restart, when Blaney was involved in a wreck caused by William Byron. Byron initially made contact with Brad Keselowski, triggering a chain reaction. Kyle Busch’s subsequent hit caused Blaney to lose control and veer across the grass, ultimately colliding head-on with the concrete wall at the end of the pit road.
SAFER barriers are designed to reduce the impact on drivers, absorbing kinetic energy during high-speed collisions. Surprisingly, these barriers were installed throughout the track, except for the section where Blaney crashed. Following this incident, NASCAR will undoubtedly address the safety measures in that specific area. Given the potential for past collisions, it would have been prudent to have safety barriers in place from the beginning.
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