Ryan Blaney recently expressed his frustration with having to deal with blown tires, an ordeal he recalled facing at the previous Las Vegas race in the fall. He described his stint before the tire failure as a good one and called it an "unfortunate" turn of events.
During practice at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Ryan Blaney experienced a flat right rear tire that ended his session prematurely. The No.12 Team Penske Ford went for a slide, with the rear consequently hitting the turn 2 barrier.
Reflecting on the same, Blaney said,
"I hate blowing tyres. I had to do the same thing last year in the fall race unfortunately and, same problem blowing the tyre in practice. I thought our car was really good before that, unfortunate part of it." (Via @NASCARONFOX)
Commenting on what the crash meant for the team, he went on to say,
"I got a lot of work cut out for em', i don't know the damage to it, i gotta look and see when i get back there and see if we can either have a backup, hopefully we don't have to pull a backup up." (Via @NASCARONFOX)
Since 2022, Blaney's average starting position in Las Vegas has been 13.7, with a best finish of third place in last year's spring race. In the fall race, he incurred a left-rear tire failure that resulted in a crash, forcing him to opt for a backup car.
Blaney was deemed uninjured after evaluation at the infield care center. Meanwhile, Team Penske has opted to repair the primary car instead of switching to a backup. The significant repairs to the #12 Ford Mustang has triggered a penalty, forcing Blaney to start from the rear on Sunday's race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Teamates Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano exchange jabs over misfortunes in Phoenix
Last weekend at the Phoenix raceway, Ryan Blaney experienced an engine failure that saw him dropping down from the top five to a 28th-place finish. This incident marked his first DNF of the season. Meanwhile, teamate Joey Logano incurred a pass-through penalty for crossing the yellow line during a restart.
In a podcast snippet from the Sirius XM NASCAR show shared by NASCAR insider Kyle Dalton, host Joey Logano joked with Ryan Blaney about his recent engine failure.
When co-host Alex Weaver asked Blaney about Sunday's race at Phoenix, Logano remarked,
"Are you going to ask him if he's not going to miss a gear and blow his motor up again this week?" (Via Sirius XM)
Ryan Blaney retaliated and said,
Dude, just because you went below the yellow line and you cheated last week doesn't mean you can take shots at me, Come on." (Via Sirius XM)
Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano head into the Las Vegas race ranked fourth and ninth with 136 and 110 points, respectively.