How Ryan Blaney won, then lost, then won the NASCAR All Star race

Ryan Blaney won the NASCAR All Star race, then had it taken off him, only to go and win it again. How did the Penske driver manage that – and what’s a window net got to do with it?

Usually with $1 million on the line in overtime, a pack of NASCAR drivers will be frothing at the mouth, eager to get going and pass the guy leading the race.

Only in the 2022 All Star race, that would not have been right.

The problem was that the race had already been won by Ryan Blaney before NASCAR took it off him.

What actually happened as Ryan Blaney won the All Star race and why has NASCAR avoided serious embarrassment?

Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images

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Ryan Blaney wins the 2022 NASCAR All Star

The #12 Penske Ford Mustang machine of Blaney hit the front at the start of the final stage, passing teammate Austin Cindric for P1.

Blaney then drove off into the Texas night – comfortably holding the lead, as Denny Hamlin emerged as his rival for the win – although the #11 remained about two seconds behind.

Coming to the chequered flag at the end of Lap 125 to secure the win, NASCAR threw the caution flags.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr had spun on the back-stretch, but the danger had passed, and no-one was in danger.

The All Star race rules dictate that the race must finish under green flag conditions – and Blaney did not cross the line before the yellows were shown.

However, such was his proximity to the finish line, the notion that the caution had been thrown for the sake of it and the entertainment was hard to dismiss.

Blaney’s crew was out in the pitlane celebrating his All Star win before the news filtered through that it wasn’t over.

Where a window net comes in

A shocked Blaney had undone his window net, preparing to celebrate- and was unable to reattach it.

This led to laps behind the safety car with Blaney driving with no hands on the wheel trying to force it back into place.

Fortunately for him, he managed to affix it back and took the restart P1.

Teammate Cindric have him a big push on the restart, and Blaney saw out overtime to claim his first NASCAR All Star win – only a few minutes after he should have.

The big winner though is NASCAR.

Even if the All Star is not a points race and does not affect the championship, denying a driver a win in the fashion it almost did would have been highly embarrassing for the series.

Dale Earnhardt Jr – whose voice and opinion still carries a lot of weight in NASCAR circles (or should that be ovals?) tweeted that NASCAR would use Blaney’s window net troubles “so you don’t reflect on how ridiculous the yellow flag situation was.”

He also simply tweeted: “Thank God @Blaney won.”

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