LAST YEAR’S COKE 600 WINNER RYAN BLANEY MAKES EARLY EXIT

Ryan Blaney’s bid to repeat as Coca-Cola 600 winner came to an early and unusual end Sunday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway

Blaney’s victory in last season’s 600-mile race was what qualified him for the 2023 playoffs, where he went on to win two more races and captured his first series title.

While he has had a solid 2024 season, he entered this weekend’s race at Charlotte still looking for his first win of the year.

Unfortunately, it was not to be.

While a round of green flag pit stops was ongoing in Stage 2, Blaney hit the outside wall in Turn 3 – possibly from a tire going down – and did serious structural damage to the right-front of his No. 12 Penske Ford.

He was able to limp around to pit road, but his team was unable to extricate the tire from the car and ran out of time to repair the car. NASCAR eventually had to throw a caution so Blaney’s car could be towed back to the garage