Ryan Blaney wins controversy-plagued All-Star Race

The NASCAR All-Star Race has been a polarising event in recent years for its perceived gimmicks (some of which would later be implemented for points rounds) to compensate for poor racing. The 2022 race, held at the much-maligned Texas Motor Speedway, did little to quell fan frustration as an officiating conundrum befell the finish: Ryan Blaney was only metres away from crossing the finish when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wrecked, creating a caution that resulted in overtime; despite lowering his window net for the cooldown lap and being unable to return it to the original location, he held off Denny Hamlin to win anyway.

Right before Blaney could take the checkered flag, the yellow came out for Stenhouse hitting the backstretch wall, though he did not receive severe damage. Nevertheless, NASCAR elected to call the caution. Under traditional rules, a race would end if the yellow flag waved on the final lap, but All-Star rules mandated it must conclude under green, justifying overtime.

Before the restart, Blaney took down the window net under the assumption he had won, but could not replace it in time and therefore continued racing. Such an act comes with obvious safety concerns, and Section 14.3.3.3.1 of the rulebook stipulates window net fasteners must remain secured at all times (without the use of tape or zip ties) during a race. Despite this, no penalty was given.

Blaney quickly quashed concerns of having the win taken away from him by beating Hamlin to the finish in overtime. It is Blaney’s first All-Star victory and first for Team Penske since Joey Logano in 2016.

To little surprise, the fiasco was widely ridiculed by many, including fans and drivers. Dale Earnhardt Jr. wrote on Twitter that NASCAR will “gladly let you debate the window net so as you don’t reflect on how ridiculous that yellow flag situation was as Blaney was crossing the finish line to win.”

Hamlin pointed out the hypocrisy in not penalising Blaney for the lowered window net. A previous case came in the 2013 Daytona 500 Duels, where Mike Bliss‘ netting came loose and resulted in a black flag, which prevented him from making the 500.

“Never should have been a yellow in the first place. They put Blaney in the situation he was in. To make up for it they let him break a rule. 2 wrongs don’t make a right. Blaney W, NASCAR L,” Hamlin tweeted. He followed by quipping that Mark Martin‘s 1994 Xfinity Series victory at Bristol has been restored, a reference to Martin pulling to pit road and dropping his window with the belief that he had won when he had actually exited the race with one lap remaining.

“We were cruising there and I just wanted to get to the white to have it covered and then the caution came out off of four,” said Blaney. “I thought it was like any other race. That rule was never kind of relayed to us. I already took my window net down and everything. My left arm is worn out from trying to get that damn thing back up. I got it rigged up enough to where it halfway stayed. I appreciate NASCAR for not making us come down pit road to fix it and letting me get it clipped back again to where we could stay out there.”

Daniel Suárez, who finished fourth, won the All-Star Open to make the feature. Stenhouse had won the Open’s first stage while Chris Buescher claimed the second to start last in the All-Star before finishing eighth. Erik Jones won the Fan Vote but was caught in a late crash.

Tyre problems, which have plagued the Next Gen cars and Goodyear all season, came back in chaotic fashion when pole-sitter Kyle Busch‘s tyre went down on lap 49. Ross Chastain attempted to squeeze between Busch and the tri-oval grass, a move that failed spectacularly when he was instead shot into the air before landing on his wheels. Other retirements included reigning All-Star winner Kyle Larson and the previous year’s victor Chase Elliott.

All-Star Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	2	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	140	Running
2	16	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	140	Running
3	12	2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	140	Running
4	9	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	140	Running
5	23	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	140	Running
6	20	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	140	Running
7	10	16	A.J. Allmendinger*	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	140	Running
8	22	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	140	Running
9	18	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford	140	Running
10	14	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	140	Running
11	3	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	140	Running
12	8	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	140	Running
13	5	45	Kurt Busch	23XI Racing	Toyota	140	Running
14	7	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	140	Running
15	19	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	140	Running
16	17	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	140	Running
17	15	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	140	Running
18	11	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	140	Running
19	21	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	139	Running
20	24	43	Erik Jones	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	103	Accident
21	1	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	47	Accident
22	6	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	47	Accident
23	13	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	47	Accident
24	4	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	36	Accident

Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for points

All-Star Open results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	2	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	50	Running
2	7	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	50	Running
3	6	31	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	50	Running
4	8	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	50	Running
5	4	43	Erik Jones	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	50	Running
6	12	42	Ty Dillon	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	50	Running
7	10	41	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	50	Running
8	14	38	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	50	Running
9	13	51	Cody Ware	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	50	Running
10	15	15	Garrett Smithley	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	50	Running
11	16	78	B.J. McLeod	Live Fast Motorsports	Ford	50	Running
12	1	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	42	Accident
13	9	21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	42	Accident
14	5	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	40	Stage 2 Win
15	11	77	Landon Cassill*	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	25	Accident
16	3	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	20	Stage 1 Win