NASCAR’s new invention, the Next-Gen car, has had its fair share of controversies in 2024. It started with a dismal short-track race package and then the car was mired by freak flips at superspeedway races. The problem grew to the extent that NASCAR had to step in with new aerodynamic changes to the race car. However, Ryan Blaney’s crash last week in Vegas highlighted a new problem.

Before Blaney could even contest in the opening race of the Round of 8, he found himself in a deep hole. During the practice run before the race, the #12 Ford Mustang lost its grip on the racetrack and spun into the wall. It looked like a normal crash at first; it was a hard impact for the driver. This crash shed light on a new flaw in the Next-Gen car, and Blaney has now asked NASCAR to look into the issue.

Ryan Blaney hopes to work with NASCAR in finding the solution to hard hits in the Next-Gen car

It’s not the case that NASCAR has made no significant changes to the safety features of the race car. All the tweaks have been focused on the front and rear of the race car, and according to Blaney, they’ve done a good job on that. But when it comes to the side panels of the race car, it is still an area where work needs to be done.

The crash wasn’t wild or concerning at all; the #12 Ford spun and brushed toward the outside wall. But it looks like those side hits were the ones that were the cause of concern for Blaney. “I definitely think change needs to be made, and that’s something we can talk about in the off-season with NASCAR, and I plan on doing that. That was kind of my first big hit with the side impact. So I’m like, how do you get these center sections of these cars to be a little bit more forgiving?”

“Yeah, we’ve worked in front and rear and did a pretty good job, and you look at that car last week after the practice crash; it just looked like it was scrapped on the left side; there was no huge body damage; it’s just a wreck right there. Hopefully, we can figure that out.” The Penske star said this to Bob Pockrass ahead of the Homestead race. It is fair to say that Blaney was cursed last weekend as even his backup race car was involved in an accident during the race. And it has put him in a rough spot in terms of the championship race.

47 points adrift, being on the wrong side of the cutline, can Ryan Blaney bounce off at Miami Homestead Speedway?

Blaney and the #12 cannot afford any mistakes

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Post-season is where the defending Cup Series championship brings out the big guns. Although the current playoffs have been a curveball for him, he is still in contention with two more races in this round. Blaney has two top-5 finishes at Homestead in his last four starts, and last year’s runner-up finish is his best result on the mile-and-a-half-track. And even if things do not go according to plan this weekend, the short track oval of Martinsville is where he can throw the last roll of the dice.

NASCAR analyst Ryan Stevens joined Eric Estepp in a recent video to discuss Blaney’s Miami chances. He said, “In 2018 he (Blaney) finished 17th, 2019 he finished 11th, 2020 he finished 3rd, so he’s trending in the right direction. Then 2021 he finished 29th, but he was top 10 in stage two, and he was involved in a wreck in lap 201. 2022 finished 17th in the top five in stage two and spins out lap 212. 2023 last year finished second top three in both stages… I would expect him to be running up front, and he is the only one who can defeat himself.”

He certainly won’t be alone, as his teammate Joey Logano is expected to help him cross the finish line. All he needs to do is keep his nose clean and execute the race.