Blaney’s victory in final season’s 600-mile race was what certified him for the 2023 playoffs, the place he went on to win two extra races and captured his first sequence title.
Whereas he has had a strong 2024 season, he entered this weekend’s race at Charlotte nonetheless searching for his first win of the yr.
Sadly, it was to not be.
Whereas a spherical of inexperienced flag pit stops was ongoing in Stage 2, Blaney hit the surface wall in Flip 3 – presumably from a tire happening – and did severe structural injury to the right-front of his No. 12 Penske Ford.
He was capable of limp round to pit highway, however his crew was unable to extricate the tire from the automobile and ran out of time to restore the automobile. NASCAR finally needed to throw a warning so Blaney’s automobile may very well be towed again to the storage.
“We’ll need to look if I hit one thing or, I don’t know,” Blaney mentioned of the incident. “I simply went into Flip 3 getting on top of things and blew a tire and hit the fence. It’s an unlucky finish to our night time. That sucks.
“We’re not even midway and simply desirous to work in your stuff all night time. I assumed we have been getting it just a little higher right here and there however gained’t get a shot.”
Blaney had simply accomplished his inexperienced flag cease previous to the incident on the monitor however he was uncertain if that had something to do with the result.
“I don’t know if I hit one thing or what, however it’s type of odd. We’ll have to return and try it,” he mentioned. “It stinks.
“That’s two unlucky weekends in a row. I assumed we at the least had a shot to get higher. I’d run near the highest 10 and perhaps prime 5, however we’ll get by way of it.
“We’ve simply bought to hopefully put collectively an excellent race subsequent week.”
Blaney now has two consecutive DNFs after getting concerned in a three-car wreck early within the Might 12 race at Darlington, S.C. He was credited with a Thirty ninth-place end on Sunday night time.
