“It Is Unacceptable” – Ryan Blaney Maintains Strict Stance on NASCAR Safety a Week After Nashville Hit

The NASCAR Cup Series race at Nashville Superspeedway turned rather ugly for Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney. While safety is usually of paramount importance in every NASCAR race, somehow a small portion of the track at Nashville missed a layer of protection. Unfortunately, Blaney ended up crashing right at that spot. The incident had taken place after he was collected by an ensuing wreck behind him. In the process, he got hit and slid across the grass eventually hitting the wall next to the end of the pit road.

As luck would have it, that was just one of the few spots that did not have the SAFER barriers in place. Therefore, Blaney ended up suffering the “hardest hit” in his career. It has been a week since that incident and the Team Penske driver still maintains his strict narrative toward improving drivers safety within NASCAR.

Ryan Blaney retains his strict thoughts on NASCAR driver safety

Journalist Dustin Long shared a clip on Twitter featuring Blaney discussing this matter. His accompanying caption noted that Ryan Blaney had conversations with NASCAR officials and Marcus Smith about hitting a concrete wall the previous weekend in Nashville.

In the clip, Blaney mentioned, “I talked to Steve O’Donnell, Steve Phelps… I’ve talked to a bunch of different guys here. So yeah, it is unacceptable. I mean, you know, we got these cars that we’ve been working on it’s been a slow process trying to get them a little better, safety-wise… You need to take all the different precautions that you can you know, in the short term. And that’s going through every place to make sure there’s no barriers like that.”

Ryan Blaney said he talked with #NASCAR officials and Marcus Smith this week about hitting a concrete wall last weekend at Nashville. pic.twitter.com/4gyicBTOYo

— Dustin Long (@dustinlong) July 1, 2023

“So it’s a shame like I said last week. Shame something has to happen first, to get a reaction like that and to go change it up. But you know, Marcus told me they’re gonna go through all their tracks, you know, make sure they don’t have anything bare like that. And if they do, they’re gonna fix it. And the same with all the NASCAR tracks too. So it’s nice that they’re doing something and taking action…”

What did NASCAR say in their statement following Nashville?

Following the incident, Blaney reportedly offered to pay for the SAFER barrier installation on that part of the track if necessary. He made these comments in a bid to urge NASCAR to address safety concerns and prevent others from enduring what he had experienced.

Sometime after Blaney’s comments, NASCAR issued a statement, which read, “NASCAR safety engineers work closely with safety experts on the implementation of barriers around the track. As we do following every race weekend, we will evaluate all available data and make any necessary improvements.”

Thanks to Blaney for raising his voice, the organization has now vowed to survey the tracks once more to make sure that there aren’t any more exposed concrete walls out on the race track.