In Duel #2, Blaney was battling for fourth position on track when it all went wrong. There were 14 laps to go in the 60-lap race when Blaney attempted to make a pass on Byron, who blocked. Blaney then darted underneath the Hendrick Motorsports driver, but they had both lost momentum in the exchange.
Kyle Busch was closing in on Byron fast through the tri-oval, leading the outside lane. He tried to lift, but could not do much as Brad Keselowski was glued to his back bumper.
Byron spun, hooking Blaney, who then slammed the outside wall nearly head-on. Several cars were collected in the ensuing melee. Fire erupted from under the hood of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford, but Blaney was uninjured.
"I'm getting pretty sick of it"
"I’m OK," he said after being released from the infield care center. "By the replay it just looks like awful pushes in terrible spots. That’s usually how these wrecks happen. Three times in a row here I’ve been right-reared by someone else’s awful push, so I’m getting pretty sick of it. People just have to be smart. I don’t know what you’re doing. It’s a Duel race. Why are you shoving in the tri-oval? I don’t get it, so just a shame we have to be the one with a tore up race car when it’s someone else’s issue. I don’t know.”
He then added: “I’m doing as good as I can be from getting hooked three times in a row here.”
Onboard with Ryan Blaney. pic.twitter.com/wENZQTQWDi
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 16, 2024
Blaney was annoyed, and understandably so. He has faced a head-on impact in each of the last three Cup races at Daytona. Last February, he crashed in Turns 1/2 on the final lap of the Daytona 500, and slammed the wall head-on in Turns 3/4 at the end of a stage during the August Daytona race.
Thankfully, he walked away from all three incidents. But he will have to go to a backup car for his tenth start in Daytona 500 this weekend.
“I can’t control it, but it comes from awful pushes by people," continued Blaney, reflecting more on the crash. "I mean, three times here in a row awful pushes have led me to getting right-reared and it’s just guys not being smart, not knowing when to get off somebody. You cannot push in the corner that hard in the tri-oval. I don’t know when guys are gonna get it.
"I’m sick of paying the expense of it and getting right-reared from someone’s dumb push, so it’s just frustrating because we do everything right and then you have guys who are just careless and just shove guys until they don’t know when to let them go and it causes wrecks and I seem to be the byproduct of getting hooked in the right-rear which is never fun.”
Huge crash in Duel #2! Reigning champ @Blaney hard into the outside wall with several others involved. 💥 #NASCAR
— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) February 16, 2024
🎥 @NASCARONFOX pic.twitter.com/LUFgezd5e4
Busch, who found himself at the epicenter of the incident, gave his perspective on what transpired.
“I was just getting a push from the No. 6 [Keselowski] there, and the No. 24 [William Byron]. I saw they kind of got messed up, out of line and slowed down. I tried to lift and roll out of the gas smoothly. I was still gaining too fast, and then I got all the way out of the gas. Got bumped again from behind and just accordion-ed into the No. 24 and sent him spinning. You don’t want to hit a guy in the tri-oval. I’ve been there, I’ve done that. I’ve also rolled out of here in an ambulance before doing that, so I know it’s not the right thing to do, but sometimes you don’t have a choice and I turned the No. 24 sideways and caused a wreck."
