During pre-race technical inspection at Darlington Raceway ahead of the NASCAR Cup Series event, one championship contender encountered significant difficulties. The No. 12 Team Penske Ford driven by Ryan Blaney failed inspection twice before finally passing on the third attempt.
Consequently, the team’s car chief has been ejected from the facility for the remainder of the race weekend. The organization also forfeited their pit stall selection, relegating them to the 38th and final pit stall position.
Blaney’s team narrowly avoided more severe consequences, as an additional failure would have triggered a pass-through penalty at the start of the race. Fortunately, they managed to clear inspection before reaching that critical threshold.
“Yeah, looking like we’re going to be only a handful of minutes late to practice, so I think we’ll still have plenty of time,” Blaney told USA Sports while the crew worked in the garage area. “But, yeah, unfortunate little speed bump. It’s hot out. Tolerances are really tight. Everyone, you know, seeing what we can get. But, you know, these guys are going to do a good job trying to figure it out, and I don’t think it will affect their practice as much.”
Ultimately, Blaney did not miss any practice time, as lightning in the vicinity suspended all on-track activities. He enters this weekend’s playoff race as the No. 2 seed in the championship standings, trailing the points leader by 25 markers.
No other Cup Series entries experienced technical issues during the inspection process.
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