"I echo Ryan's thoughts: it's unacceptable”: NASCAR Senior VP backs safety concerns raised by Ryan Blaney post-Nashville race

Ryan Blaney's Ally 400 race was cut short when he got into a crash on Lap 146 during the NASCAR Cup Series race at Nashville Superspeedway on Sunday. He was involved in the collision that occurred after Brad Keselowski's racecar looked to be unable to accelerate.

Ryan Blaney slipped to the inside of the track after losing control and struck the interior wall directly. The lack of a safety barrier around the wall made the impact considerably more painful.

Ryan Blaney was disappointed that there was no SAFER barrier where his car struck after suffering what he called the biggest collision of his career.

“I’m sure they’ll put one on it after this. It sucks that things like that have to happen, someone hit a wall head-on like that and then you’re like, ‘Oh, we’ll put a SAFER barrier on it now'," Blaney said to the media.

NASCAR Vice Senior Vice President Elton Sawyer backed Blaney's safety concerns. Talking to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Sawyer stated that the sanctioning body is taking action on Ryan Blaney's crash and how to avoid such accidents in the future.

"I'll echo Ryan's thoughts, It's unacceptable, I'll start there. Why it wasn't protected? I don't have a great answer for you. There are some areas that are basically not designed or not positioned around the facility where it's conducive to put SAFERs."

He continued:

"And in this case just the way the SAFERs are designed, you need a ... what I've been told is a 100-foot span to be able to use SAFER..."

By absorbing the energy of a crash, a SAFER barrier minimizes the pressures that a driver experiences. Injury risks are reduced as a result. Around NASCAR oval tracks and most road courses, SAFER barriers are the norm.

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NASCAR Drivers react to Ryan Blaney's crash during the Ally 400 in Nashville

At tracks on the Cup schedule, SAFER barriers are almost always there, but occasionally a wall will be nothing more than plain concrete. And unfortunately for Blaney, he managed to strike one of them during the Ally 400 in Nashville.

After a pretty hard hit to the exposed concrete wall, Ryan Blaney was lucky enough to claim out of his car without any injuries but his car was completely wrecked. Blaney stated that he was feeling fine after being released from the care centre.

Kyle Busch is well aware of the harm that concrete walls can cause.

“But hopefully everything’s all right there with Blaney, and you know, we’ll look at the ramifications of fixing it.” Kyle Busch said.

Drivers tend to hit a part of the wall during the race, but this was pretty serious. Chase Elliott seemed to agree with Busch.

“Well hopefully Blaney’s alright, certainly will check on him,I didn’t see it, I just saw his car sitting there, it looked like it hit pretty good." Elliott said.

Martin Truex Jr. wondered why an exposed wall was present in the first place.

“A conversation that’s always ongoing, I’m surprised there’s one of those [walls] out here left..." Turex said

The accident emphasizes the continued necessity for racetracks to take consistent safety safeguards in order to protect drivers' lives and well-being.