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Go Bowling at the Glen race threw the NASCAR world a curveball right from the start, delivering one of the biggest upsets of the 2024 season. Known for its chaos, no one expected the action to kick off on Lap 1, but that’s exactly what happened, leaving drivers like Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin scrambling.

It was Corey LaJoie who set things off by overshooting a turn and nudging Kyle Busch’s #8, causing Busch to slide across the track. While Busch managed to avoid major damage, Blaney and Hamlin weren’t so lucky. For the defending champion, it wasn’t a huge crash, but a slight tap to the #6 Ford was enough to throw his steering off. As a result, the safety crew had to step in to help remove his #12 car, and what followed next was truly bizarre.

Penske driver wanted NASCAR to consider his request

Ryan Blaney and his team were ruled out of the race without even assessing the damage to their car. Usually, teams have seven minutes on the pit road to carry out the repair job. After that, the governing body deems that the team may or may not participate in the race. This verdict wasn’t taken very well by the defending champion, and he just couldn’t wrap his head around this judgment call.

“Give us a chance to fix it. They have no idea of the damage. I don’t know what’s going on and why they didn’t give us a shot to work on it,” Blaney said while speaking to MRN after the crash. Although he was in a pretty good position coming into this race, a DNF is indeed a big blow to his title hopes. With the entirety of the race yet to play out, it is hard to predict where the #12 team would find themselves in the standings.

Surprisingly, Denny Hamlin, who was involved in the same crash, was able to make it to the pit road, and his team pulled off the repair work. Blaney argued that his team should have been able to look at the damages in a bid to get him back on track. However, NASCAR was pretty stern on their decision call.

“They are going to make the judgment on how it is and throw you back to the garage, and you don’t even get a chance to look at it on pit road and fix it. That’s not right, they said it’s because I could drive it back; they take you to the garage. Well, you can’t drive back on four flat tires, and then they are taking you to the pit stop. Where’s the rule?” Ryan Blaney said this to Bob Pockrass.

 

Ryan Blaney wasn’t lucky this time around with the NASCAR DVP

As strange as it might sound, NASCAR’s controversial DVP allowed the Penske driver to seal a playoff spot back in 2022. During the penultimate race at the Daytona International Speedway, he was on the receiving end of a big crash in the stage 1 run. Back then he was allowed to head to the pit road, and his team managed to help him roll out on the track back again.

The Team Penske driver finished the race in the 15th spot, thus nudging out Martin Truex Jr. for the 16th and the final playoff spot. However, this time around, he finds himself on the receiving end of this DVP ruling. “Why don’t you just get us look at it? Might have a shot at fixing it and getting back out there. You never know; that’s what I was upset with. Like they gotta give us a chance to look at it and tell us that it’s done, but we have no say in the matter,” Blaney expressed his frustrations.

DVP has been one of the most controversial rules ever since its inception. As explained by Joe Gibbs Racing in their YouTube video series;

1. Crew can only use fasteners and tape for repairs if parts are being removed/replaced.
2. A 5-minute clock starts when a damaged car crosses the pit road entrance line. And, driver and crew have only 5 minutes from that point to complete repairs.
3. The clock stops either when time elapses or when the car crosses the pit exit line (yellow line).
4. This rule applies only to vehicles involved in on-track wrecks.
5. Mechanical issues unrelated to a wreck can be repaired in the garage.

With this episode, NASCAR will be in the spotlight, and it will be interesting to hear their side of the story.