After a pair of mishaps on pit road, Ryan Blaney had some harsh words for his pit crew coming to a caution with about 150 laps to go at Phoenix. He was not happy.
Blaney had been running up in P2 before a pit stop. However, he had a loose tire coming out of the stop and had to make a second loop around to pit road, costing him valuable track positioning.
He had been battling Joey Logano for the lead while holding off Tyler Reddick at the time of the stop. After the mistake he restarted in P24, so he had a lot of ground to make up.
Ryan Blaney did a great job doing just that. He quickly worked his way up to P9 before a caution came out when Chase Briscoe hit the wall. On his pit stop under caution, though, Blaney had a second loose wheel and had to stop in Logano’s pit stop to tighten it.
The next time around, after Noah Gragson brought out the caution flag, Ryan Blaney was not taking chances. He had some distinct instructions for his pit crew.
“Hey…let’s f*cking keep our track position this time,” Blaney said, per Alan Cavanna.
The good news? Ryan Blaney has been able to make up time no problem so far today at Phoenix. He’s had one of the fastest cars on the track.
As the restart looked to get underway, Blaney was working his way back up once again. He was in P20 with about 143 laps to go at the time of this writing.
Ross Chastain penalized for losing wheel at COTA
NASCAR issued its penalties from the weekend at COTA, and Ross Chastain found himself on the disciplinary list. He lost a tire late in the Cup Series race, something Ryan Blaney narrowly avoided early Sunday at Phoenix.
For that, NASCAR has suspended crew members Josh Appleby and Kenneth Pozega from the next two points events, through Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 15. There were no other penalties stemming from the weekend at COTA.
It’s been a bit of a rough start for Ross Chastain so far in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2026. He finished in third at Atlanta Motor Speedway but finished 20th at Daytona and 35th this past weekend at COTA.
As a result, Chastain sits just 20th in the points standings. That said, everyone is trailing Tyler Reddick by a wide margin right now, courtesy of his historic feat notching the first three wins of the season.