5-Time NBA All-Star Deems NASCAR’s Oversight “Unacceptable” After Ryan Blaney Nearly Fell Victim to a Vicious Blow

NASCAR, known for its high-speed races and adrenaline-pumping action, has always emphasized driver safety. However, the recent incident involving Ryan Blaney during the Nashville Cup Series race has raised concerns about the safety measures in place with several teams and drivers voicing their opinions.

Joining this conversation recently was seen Brad Daugherty, former 5-time NBA All Star legend and JTG Daugherty Racing’s co-owner who also expressed his concerns and frustrations, specifically as a team owner regarding NASCAR’s oversight and lack of safety measures.

Brad Daugherty demands NASCAR to be held ‘Accountable’ after recent oversight

In a conversation with Marty Snider during an interview, Brad Daugherty did not mince his words when asked about the track safety oversight that almost resulted in Ryan Blaney suffering a serious blow. Daugherty expressed his frustration, stating, “I mean, it’s unacceptable at this point. I mean, you’re going down into turn 1 and for there to be a concrete wall, even if it’s only 50 feet long, it’s just not acceptable.”

Brad further emphasized that while NASCAR has always prioritized safety, this particular oversight regarding the track was concerning. He lamented, “NASCAR focuses on safety, this is just an oversight about the track and they need to be held accountable. This should not happen at all.”

Adding to the conversation, he referred to Dale Jr’s comments made during a broadcast and said, “Dale Jr said it yesterday during the broadcast, man a race car will find any crack or crevice with concrete and hitting some odd spots…you’ve got to have SAFER barriers on every inch of concrete or barrier around a race track, it’s just unacceptable because we saw that yesterday.”  

While Brad recognized the perilous nature of the situation, he also expressed gratitude about Blaney walking away relatively unharmed as he added, “Fortunately the young man was able to walk away unscathed.” 

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A Team Owner’s Perspective: Brad Daugherty provides Insider scoop

Although that was not the end of that conversation. Following Daugherty’s tirade, Marty Snider also chimed in as he recalled Kyle Busch’s horrific crash at Daytona back in 2015 and raised an important question: Would Brad Daugherty, as a team owner, consider contacting NASCAR and demanding better safety measures to protect his drivers?

In response to this question, Daugherty responded with a resounding, “Absolutely, 100%” and revealed that he had already spoken with NASCAR officials to address the issue.

Elaborating on his conversation and the concerns he put forth, he added, “Had a conversation this morning with some folks at NASCAR. Absolutely, we want our athletes safe, we want everybody to drive as hard as they possibly can drive, race as hard as you can race and it’s if you get off course, you’re going to contact something – We want that impact to be as delicate as possible. That’s just unacceptable to have that concrete there and NASCAR’s well aware.” 

Spilling the beans about NASCAR’s response, Brad disclosed, “They do the best they can and sometimes it’s just an oversight, it’s just hard but they’ve made me really comfortable with what I heard this morning about this is just not going to happen anywhere we go, going to make sure to go take a look at a lot of different things, put the onus on the tracks to make sure every ounce of that race track is safe and hopefully we won’t see this again.” 

While Brad’s comments ignite hope within the NASCAR Community about better safety protocols, only time will tell whether NASCAR will follow through on the promises made.

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