Blaney Begins Championship Chase with Darlington Inspection Penalties

Ryan Blaney and the No. 12 Team Penske team, who come into the opening weekend of the 10-race NASCAR Cup Series Chase for the Championship as the No. 2 seed, had a bit of drama to kick off the race weekend on Saturday afternoon.

In the pre-race inspection at Darlington Raceway, Blaney's bright yellow Menard's No. 12 Ford Mustang Dark Horse had a hard time clearing the technical inspection and actually failed twice. As a result of the multiple failed inspection attempts, Blaney will incur some penalties.

For starters, Blaney's team will be without one of its critical members for the remainder of the Cook Out Southern 500 race weekend. Raymond Fox, the car chief for the No. 12 team, has been ejected due to the inspection issues.

Additionally, Blaney will forfeit pit selection, meaning no matter what position he qualifies in, he will be left with whatever pit stall is left after the other cars in the field choose their stalls for Sunday's race. This is a potentially bigger penalty than it seems, as Blaney is pitting this weekend with a new pit crew, after Team Penske chose to swap the crews for its No. 2 and No. 12 teams.

With Blaney the No. 2 seed, Team Penske wanted to pair him with the former No. 2 team pit crew, which was the 10th-overall rated pit crew on pit road this season. Austin Cindric, the No. 15 seed in the Chase has now inherited Blaney's former crew, which ranks as the 32nd-best crew in the series.

Not being able to control where they pit on Darlington's pit road on Sunday could put Blaney and his team in a precarious position if they are placed between other teams, who will be competing around where they will be competing in Sunday's race. Typically, a team wants to be surrounded by cars deeper in the field than them on pit road, as it gives them a cleaner entry into their pit stall on race day.

Fortunately, for Blaney and his team, the No. 12 Ford did pass inspection on its third pass through the inspection bay. Had it not, it would have resulted in even larger penalties, including starting at the rear of the field, and a pass through penalty after the green flag of the race.

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