CUP: Ryan Blaney’s crew unable to assess damage from first-lap accident at Watkins Glen

Written By Brock Beard

by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief

PHOTO: NASCAR on NBC / USA

Ryan Blaney picked up the 8th last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s Go Bowling! At the Glen at Watkins Glen International when his #12 Menards / Pennzoil Ford was collected in a multi-car accident and was unable to complete any of the 92 laps.

The finish, which came in his 334th series start, was his third of the season and second in the last three races, extending his lead to two finishes in the 2024 LASTCAR Cup Series Championship. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 34th for the #12, the 675th from a crash, and 751st for Ford. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 52nd for the #12, the 1050th for Ford, and the 1,393rd from a crash.

After he was collected in the Lap 2 incident with Martin Truex, Jr. in the Southern 500, Blaney rebounded in the Playoff opener in Atlanta, picking up a 3rd-place finish and earning 53 points – more than anyone else in the field. This placed him second in the Playoff standings behind only his Penske teammate Joey Logano, who secured his spot in the “Round of 12” with a win.

Blaney looked to keep things going in Watkins Glen, where he finished 9th last summer and earned a lone Top Five with a 5th in 2019. He began the weekend a strong 8th in practice, and sixth among Playoff drivers. But he struggled in qualifying, ranking 15th of the 19 drivers in Round 1A, leaving him a distant 30th on the grid with a lap of 73.076 seconds (120.696mph).

Securing the 38th and final starting spot was Kaz Grala, whose #15 Meat ‘n Bone Ford turned in the session’s slowest lap, four-tenths off the next-slowest entry of Todd Gilliland in the #38 Boozy Jerky! Ford. Gilliland would incur a tail-end penalty for unapproved adjustments along with 29th-place Carson Hocevar in the #77 Mattress Warehouse Chevrolet. On race day, both Gilliland and Hocevar were instructed to drop to the tail end of the right-hand lane.

The view from 38th-place Kaz Grala as the green flag fell. (SCREENSHOT: NASCAR Drive)

When the green flag fell, Grala remained last across the stripe showing 3.454 seconds back of the lead. But heading down the backstretch, Grala’s spotter urged him to “Stay right, stay right” as trouble broke out around the 13th spot in the Inner Loop. Heading through the corner, Ty Gibbs’ #54 CW Sports Toyota stacked up behind Corey LaJoie’s #7 Gainbridge Chevrolet, which got in the back of Kyle Busch’s #8 zone Chevrolet. The contact spun Busch around at corner exit, and as Christopher Bell cut left to get by clipped the rear of Busch’s car, spinning Bell’s #20 DeWalt Outdoor Solutions Toyota into the grass. As other cars piled in to driver’s left, Blaney went to the right, only to be squeezed between two other cars as he passed Busch. Caught between Brad Keselowski’s #6 King’s Hawaiian Ford to his left and Josh Berry’s #4 Bed Bath & Beyond Ford to his right, Blaney bounced between them, then pulled straight at the entrance of Turn 5, where he stopped in the run-off.

Blaney receives a tow exiting Turn 5. (SCREENSHOT: NASCAR Drive)

Scoring briefly showed last place fall to Bubba Wallace, whose #23 Mobil 1 Toyota was last of the drivers caught up in the incident, but Wallace made it back around along with Denny Hamlin’s #11 FedEx Toyota, Ryan Preece’s #41 Mohawk Northeast Ford, and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.’s #47 Korger / Old El Paso Chevrolet, who along with Busch each suffered noticeable damage from the incident. This dropped Blaney to last by Lap 2. A tow truck arrived to bring back Blaney, whose window net was down. As the car was towed down the short chute to pit road, the USA broadcast reported Blaney’s car had broken the steering column in the incident. Blaney’s crew waited for the car at Stall 34, the fourth stall past the entrance to the garage. But the tow truck took a right at the garage entrance, then stopped for 30 seconds before driving the rest of the way in, much to the dismay of the Penske crew members standing in teammate Austin Cindric’s Stall 37. “If you can’t steer, you’re out,” said someone on Blaney’s channel, noticeably upset. “That’s what they keep telling me.” Blaney was just as frustrated that NASCAR wouldn’t allow the team to even look at the car in their pit stall before the tow truck’s trip to the garage ended their day.

Blaney now ranks 8th in points with a 29-point advantage over the Playoff cut line, which will eliminate its first four drivers next Saturday in Bristol.

Stenhouse only completed two laps before his damaged car joined Blaney’s in the garage, done for the day in 37th. Taking 36th was A.J. Allmendinger, who on the ensuing Lap 6 restart suddenly plummeted through the field in The Esses from what felt like a snapped axle. After repairs on pit road, he pulled behind the wall on Lap 9, where the team discovered the issue would end their race. Kaz Grala took 35th after a Lap 74 incident where Daniel Hemric’s #31 Cirkul Chevrolet bumped Grala into Turn 11, sending Grala backwards into the barrier. He still finished the race under power, as did William Byron, whose #24 Liberty University Chevrolet ramped onto the side of Brad Keselowski’s #6 in a bizarre Lap 85 wreck.

Spire Motorsports enjoys a banner afternoon

After two of their three entries finished in the Top Ten at Michigan, where Corey LaJoie finished in last place, Spire Motorsports saw all three of their cars earn Top Tens on Sunday with even more impressive finishes. Taking 3rd was Carson Hocevar, whose #77 Mattress Warehouse Chevrolet led a lap and took the final restart on the front row. It was Hocevar’s first career top-five finish in his 37th career start, his best since a pair of 8th-place showings in Gateway and Richmond. Zane Smith finished 5th in the #71 Focused Health Chevrolet, his best run since his runner-up in Nashville, and held the spot during a lengthy run in the race’s middle stages. And after his first-lap incident with Busch, LaJoie took home 8th, his second top-ten finish in the last three races.

LASTCAR STATISTICS

Derrike Cope's #12 loses the engine at Watkins Glen, 1994. (SCREENSHOT: ESPN, YouTube upload by Michael McIntyre)

*This marked the first last-place finish for the #12 in a Cup Series race at Watkins Glen since August 14, 1994, when Derrike Cope, making his first start for Bobby Allison Motorsports, lost the engine on the #12 Straight Arrow Ford after 5 laps of the Bud at the Glen.

*Blaney is the first Cup driver to finish last after failing to complete a lap of the event since August 12, 2012, when Brian Vickers’ #55 MyClassicGarage.com / Aaron’s Toyota lost the engine on the opening lap.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

38) #12-Ryan Blaney / 0 laps / crash

37) #47-Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. / 2 laps / crash

36) #13-A.J. Allmendinger / 6 laps / transmission

35) #15-Kaz Grala / 87 laps / running

34) #24-William Byron / 90 laps / crash

2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Penske Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing (4)

2nd) Joe Gibbs Racing, Kaulig Racing, Motorsports Business Management, Spire Motorsports (3)

3rd) Front Row Motorsports, Hendrick Motorsports, Legacy Motor Club, RFK Racing, Richard Childress Racing, Rick Ware Racing, Trackhouse Racing (1)

2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Ford (14)

2nd) Chevrolet (9)

3rd) Toyota (4)

2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

Brock Beard https://lastcar.info
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