Title contender Ryan Blaney faces Darlington inspection issues, car chief ejected

During pre-race inspection at Darlington Raceway, Ryan Blaney's No. 12 Team Penske Ford experienced difficulty passing inspection. The car failed twice before finally passing on the third attempt. Consequently, the No. 12 car chief was ejected from the track for the rest of the race weekend, and Team Penske lost their pit stall selection, resulting in being assigned the 38th and final pit stall available.

Fortunately, a single failure would have led to much more severe penalties, such as a pass-through penalty at the start of the race. Blaney, however, managed to avoid that fate. He commented to USA Sports that they were only a few minutes late to practice, implying they would still have ample time. Blaney faced challenges due to high temperatures and tight tolerances, but he remained optimistic that the team would overcome the issue.

Blaney secured the No. 2 seed in the Chase standings, trailing the leader by 25 points. Unlike other Cup cars, no other teams encountered issues during the technical inspection process at Darlington Raceway.