NASCAR giveth, taketh, then giveth back to Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr. just 'went with it.'

Ryan Blaney was asked if he was in a must-win situation during a postrace interview on Sunday.

In the last 24 hours, he'd likely have three different answers.

Blaney turned in a solid sixth-place run with eight stage points at Las Vegas but was disqualified after his left-front damper was found not to meet the required length. Then, on Monday afternoon, NASCAR rescinded the penalty, after finding an error in the template used to measure such parts.

And folks claim football is the game of inches.

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The reversal likely makes getting in on points at least possible for Blaney, who is 17 points behind the cutline instead of an overwhelming 56.

NASCAR released the following statement:

“After further review of the inspection process throughout this weekend’s events at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, NASCAR has rescinded the No. 12 disqualification penalty.

Monday morning during its race weekend debrief, NASCAR discovered an issue with the damper template used for inspection.

NASCAR then conducted a detailed investigation, and has restored the No. 12’s stage and race finishing positions from Sunday. NASCAR has taken internal steps to remedy this issue moving forward.”

It's a head-scratcher, for sure, but it seems like crisis averted for one of the sport's fan favorites.

Let’s go through the gears:

First gear: Does Kyle Larson have a Phoenix advantage after Las Vegas win?

The next two weeks got a lot less stressful for Kyle Larson thanks to Sunday's win, after he was able to hold off a hard-charging Christopher Bell at the finish line.

How much of an advantage is winning the first race of the Round of 8? Larson seemed mixed on it.

“I think if tomorrow I start worrying about Phoenix, then had two bad runs at Homestead and Martinsville, I think that would kill our momentum and confidence for Phoenix,” Larson said.

But, in the nine seasons since 2014 when the NASCAR playoffs were divided into rounds, the eventual champion won the first race of the Round of 8 four times, including Larson in 2021.

Second gear: Martin Truex Jr. snaps skid despite bad strategy

Martin Truex Jr. finally brought some speed but apparently, the team left their strategy guide at home.

Crew chief James Small kept Truex on the track at the end of Stage 1 with old tires, yet everybody else came in and on a day in which fresh rubber was king, Truex was quickly gobbled up.

“My gut reaction was don’t do it, don’t stay out, but I like to listen to my crew chief and do whatever they say, no matter what,” Truex said. “So, I went with it, but didn’t feel good about it.”

Truex was able to rally to finish eighth and is still three points above the cutline. The top-10 snapped a string of seven straight finishes of 17^th or worse. It marked the worst such streak of his career since 2009.

Third gear: Christopher Bell stays clean but disappointed

While Larson beamed with a trophy in hand, Bell could only scowl with his ethics intact.

Could Bell have done more coming out of Turn 4? Bell said no, but Larson certainly thought so.

“It could’ve got crazier than it did coming to the start-finish line, so, thank you to him for racing with respect there,” Larson said.

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With a 52-point day, Bell now resides just three points from the cutoff with two races left.

Yet none of that was much solace on Sunday.

“I really feel like that was our chance,” Bell said. “That was our chance to make Phoenix this year and it slipped away from us.”

Fourth gear: Homestead trends

Don’t be shocked if Homestead looks a lot like Las Vegas.

The 1½-mile oval has been a playground for Larson, who has five top-five finishes in his last seven races there with 528 laps led. And that stretch includes a 40^th-place finish with a blown motor in 2019. Kevin Harvick’s career average finish of 7.3 is tops with Denny Hamlin’s three wins most among active drivers.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Ryan Blaney penalty reversed by NASCAR, Kyle Larson thanks Bell