Ryan Blaney loses pit-stall pick after Darlington inspection failures
NXTbets Pro | Published On: September 5, 2026
Blaney penalties mount
Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney took a hit before the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway when the No. 12 Ford failed inspection twice and passed on its third try. The penalties hit the team in two ways. Blaney lost pit-selection priority, and car chief Raymond Fox was ejected for the rest of the weekend. NASCAR rules allowed the organization to remove one crew member of its choosing after the second failed inspection, and Penske used that option on Fox. The No. 12 team also escaped harsher penalties that could have sent the car to the rear of the field and added a pass-through after the green flag. That left Blaney with a car that cleared inspection in time to race, but it also left the team sorting through a weekend complication before the postseason opener. The inspection trouble came at a point when every detail matters for a playoff driver, and Penske gave up one of the small advantages that can shape the first laps, first stops and the rest of the night. Good or bad, the outcome was clear. The Ford passed on the third attempt, but the team did not leave the inspection line clean.
Team Penske changes
The setback landed at a track that had already slowed the field. Darlington Raceway, a 1.366-mile oval in South Carolina, put activity on hold because of lightning in the area while teams were scheduled to be on track. That delay added another layer to a weekend that already carried pressure for Team Penske. The organization had swapped pit crews between the No. 12 and No. 2 cars for the postseason. Inspection penalties can test that kind of plan quickly. Losing pit-selection priority changes where a team lines up in the pits, and that affects how the No. 12 crew handles the opening race of the playoffs. Fox’s ejection also trimmed the group’s margin for error because the crew structure around the car changed before the green flag. The weekend opened with a penalty package and a weather delay instead of a clean start. For a playoff team, that combination turns the attention from setup and speed to recovery and execution.
Playoff opener stakes
Blaney entered Darlington as one of the 16 drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs and did so from a strong position in the standings. He held the No. 2 seed, 25 points behind Denny Hamlin, and had already won three races during the 2026 season before the playoff opener. That record kept him among the championship favorites, even with the inspection setback attached to the weekend. The Cook Out Southern 500 was scheduled for Sunday at 5 p.m. ET and was set to start the 10-race playoff stretch. That places a premium on the early part of the schedule and on how teams handle the opening stop, the first restart and the first round of decisions. Blaney’s car got through inspection, so the No. 12 team avoided the most severe sanctions, but it still paid a price in track position management. The challenge now is straightforward for Penske. Get through the opener, manage the points gap and keep the playoff chase moving after a weekend that started with a failed inspection, an ejection and a lost pit stall pick. At Darlington, those are the kinds of details that can alter the shape of a race before the field settles in.
