After a violent crash into an exposed concrete barrier on the frontstretch at Nashville Superspeedway, Ryan Blaney was less than pleased with the safety standards of the 1.333-mile speedway in Lebanon, Tennessee.
Blaney, who had his bell rung in the hard impact at Lap 147, called the hit the hardest impact he's had in his entire life.
“I don’t know why there’s no SAFER barrier there, that’s pretty ridiculous, honestly,” Blaney seethed in a post-infield care center interview on NBC. “Hardest hit I’ve ever had in my life. Happy to be alright. Just sucks for the Pennzoil Ford Mustang, and stinks to go home early.”
After the interview on NBC, Blaney spoke to the other members of the media, where he continued to have a pointed take on the situation.
"I'm sure they'll put one on it after this. It sucks that things like that have to happen, someone to hit the wall head-on like that, you know, then you're like, 'Oh, we'll put a SAFER barrier on it now,' It's like, why aren't you doing the whole track," Blaney questioned. "I'll pay for the f***ing thing to put on there. It's 30 feet. I don't know."
While it is very hard for race tracks to select where to apply SAFER barriers, as they weigh the costs versus the probability that a car will land somewhere, we've seen over the years that race cars find walls, no matter how low the probability is.
Fortunately, Blaney was okay following the hard crash, and Nashville Superspeedway will more than likely have more SAFER barrier protection next season.
Following Sunday's Ally 400, NASCAR issued a statement regarding the situation surrounding Blaney's hard crash, 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.”
Here is a video of the massive impact that Blaney took in Sunday's Ally 400:
Due to the hard crash, Blaney wound up finishing last in the 36-car field in the race.
