155 laps in the 240-lap NASCAR Cup race at WWT Raceway turned into a nightmare for Ryan Blaney, who suffered a brake failure that culminated in a crash into the outside wall, ending his race. Blaney, driver for Team Penske, was in sixth position and was only a few points behind the championship leader when the incident occurred.
This chaotic day at Gateway was especially tough, as Blaney was the first of the 16 drivers in the Chase to exit the competition. He would finish the race in 35th place, in the second round of the ten-week Chase for the title.
Despite his failure, the situation may not be as bad as he expected, as several of his Chase competitors also suffered accidents later in the race. Thus, Blaney leaves Gateway in fourth position, 33 points behind the leader.
After being released from the medical center within the track, Blaney commented that he had received no warning before the failure: ‘I had a little concern at the start of the race, but then it seemed to stabilize. They didn’t worsen and suddenly, I feel like they broke before I could touch the brake pedal,’ he explained.
In a subsequent press conference, Blaney added that it is necessary to keep working: ‘I didn’t feel good with the brakes last round, so they probably just expired. We need to move forward and try to have a good day next week. It’s a shame, I liked how we were racing.’ He also stated that he believed they had chances to win.
When asked if NASCAR should implement measures to prevent brake failures like this, Blaney considered that each team should take responsibility. ‘I don’t know if it’s an issue that should be regulated. We’ll look at it and see what we’ve done right. We haven’t had brake failures in our company here, so we need to review if there was something different. But I think it’s best to leave it up to the teams.’
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
SourceID: SRC_25ac7472d385748144c975aafd32e117a575188d