Entering NASCAR’s The Chase this weekend, Team Penske made a big change to help improve Ryan Blaney’s chances of winning the Cup Series championship this season. Unfortunately for Blaney and the No. 12 team, they took two significant setbacks on Saturday ahead of the Cook Out Southern 500.
Jeff Gluck of The Athletic reported that the No. 12 car failed inspection twice on Saturday afternoon at Darlington Raceway. While it passed after a third inspection, Blaney’s team will lose pit selection for the NASCAR race tomorrow.
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It’s a significant disadvantage at a track where pit crew and the ability to get in and out of the stall quickly makes the biggest difference. The loss of pit selection also comes just days after Team Penske swapped out Blaney’s pit crew for Austin Cindric’s, largely due to the numerous issues the No. 12 team has had on pit road during the regular season.
Unfortunately for Blaney, things only got worse for him a few hours later. Cup Series qualifying at Darlington, along with practice, were wiped out due to lightning and rain in the area. As a result, the NASCAR starting lineup tomorrow was determined by the metric score.
Because the metric score is heavily influenced by the results from the last race, Blaney’s finishing position in the regular-season finale at Daytona (33rd) will cost him dearly in the Cook Out Southern 500.
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The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion will now have to overcome both a bad starting position and having one of the worst pit stalls in the NASCAR race tomorrow. Already 25 points behind leader Denny Hamlin, Blaney’s team might need to take a risky gamble at Darlington on Sunday night if it wants to have any chance at narrowing that deficit.
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