Ryan Blaney took the checkered flag Sunday, but some felt he should have been shown a different flag.
The No. 12 Penske Ford finished first in a wild, lengthy and caution-filled All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway, earning bragging rights and a $1 million prize.
But there was a small issue: Blaney committed an on-track offense that could — and maybe should — have forced him to drop to the back of the pack.
After crossing the start-finish line, Blaney put down the window netting on his car after thinking he had the race won. He was 100 feet from the start-finish line when a questionable caution was thrown, forcing the All-Star Race into overtime. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. had grazed the wall on the back stretch. Under this year’s All-Star Race rules, the race needed to finish under green, unlike in years past when the race could have finished under yellow. Blaney struggled to get the net back up.
Some drivers and analysts felt as though he should have been shown a black flag for an obvious safety violation. Even Blaney’s own team thought that was the case. The flag would have forced him off the track to get the net put back up, leaving some question as to where, or if, he would have finished the race.
MORE: NASCAR All-Star race results, highlights, more
While he made it clear that Blaney should have won the race, runner-up Denny Hamlin took issue with NASCAR’s longtime inconsistency when it comes to rule enforcement and ripped it for throwing the yellow just seconds before Blaney was about to win:
Hamlin says nascar should have black flagged blaney.
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) May 23, 2022
An irate Denny Hamlin says NASCAR should have black-flagged Ryan Blaney for the window net. He says he would have stayed out like Blaney did, but rules are rules. pic.twitter.com/5OVeD1pd84
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) May 23, 2022
“Whatever the rule is, let’s be consistent and play by the rule,” Hamlin said following the race. “He should have won the race. He’s 100 yards from winning the race. …
“It’s just, all I ask is, we know what the rules are, and we play by them. Where NASCAR got away with one, is that we nearly crashed on (Turn) 2, so when I send (Blaney) head-first into traffic, and the window net’s down — I don’t know. Then they got a lawsuit on their hands.”
Blaney told reporters that the net was back up and that he felt safe in OT.
Hamlin later took to Twitter to clarify his stance:
Never should have been a yellow in the first place. They put Blaney in the situation he was in. To make up for it they let him break a rule. 2 wrongs don’t make a right.
Blaney W, NASCAR L— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) May 23, 2022
“Never should have been a yellow in the first place. They put Blaney in the situation he was in. To make up for it they let him break a rule. 2 wrongs don’t make a right. Blaney W, NASCAR L,” Hamlin tweeted.
Other big names in the sport, including Dale Earnhardt Jr., felt as though the yellow for Stenhouse’s wall scrape was a bit of a reach by NASCAR
Nascar is gonna gladly let you debate the window net so as you don’t reflect on how ridiculous that yellow flag situation was as Blaney was crossing the finish line to win.
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) May 23, 2022
“Nascar is gonna gladly let you debate the window net so as you don’t reflect on how ridiculous that yellow flag situation was as Blaney was crossing the finish line to win,” he tweeted.
NASCAR senior vice president Scott Miller told reporters that it maybe threw the yellow “prematurely” and there was “no way for us to know” if Blaney got the net “100 percent latched or not.”
With the net on the fritz, Blaney finished the job for real in overtime, although he broke a rule in the process. He also dashed Hamlin’s hopes of adding a cool million to his bank account.
Give credit to Blaney for seizing the window of opportunity, however.