NASCAR reaffirmed its damaged vehicle policy after driver Ryan Blaney was parked following a crash on Lap 1 of the 16-run race at Watkins Glen International last Sunday.
The incident, caused by the contact with Brad Keselowski, left Blaney’s car with severe damage, which led the officials to decide to allow their team to try repairs.
The decision has sparked controversy, with Blaney expressing frustration at what he perceives as an unfair and premature call. Blaney commented to the media after the race, as Newsweek Sports previously reported:
“Give us a chance to fix it, how will they dictate whether we’re done or not?
Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images
“They have no idea of the damage. They said because they could not drive back to the box box that we finished, but if you have four flats, you returned back to the box box, you can not return it. So, I don’t know not what happens, because they won’t even give us a shot to work, but I don’t agree.
“I don’t even know what happened honestly, stacked up, I hit someone on the left front and completely broke the steering arm.”
He continued:
“I wasn’t able to get it fixed, but that’s the frustrating part, you don’t even give us a chance to finish our day and you don’t let us see it before it’s in the garage? That’s right, it stinks,” he explained.
NASCAR Cup Series general manager Brad Moran provided clarity on this policy during a statement on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. The policy, established in 2017, requires that if a driver cannot drive his car in the pit stall after an incident, the vehicle is considered out for the rest of the race. Moran explained:
“If you’re in an accident and you’re on the DVP (damaged vehicle policy) and you can’t drive the vehicle back to your stall, then you’re out of the running at that point.
“If you drive it in the garage or behind the wall, at that point you are out of the race. And you have to go to the care center. So, it is a variety of reasons or efficiencies or safety. But all the industry in collaboration brought this together in 2017.
“It was very unfortunate. I completely understand the frustration of Blaney. But he was involved with the incident with the 6 (Brad Keselowski) that ended up breaking the front suspension or the steering. I believe that was at the end of everything. be consistent with that which we have been doing since 2017.”