BRISTOL, Tenn. – When NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) rookie first dropped the word velvet during his media availability Friday morning at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, nobody thought anything about it.
“Hopefully, this race will go as smooth as velvet this weekend,” said the driver of the No. 21 Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire + Auto Center Ford Fusion.
But, as the session pressed on and the word become more visible in different scenarios, the jig was up.
Initially thought to be a bet between he and best friend Darrell Wallace Jr., Blaney brushed off the speculation that the two were putting on a stunt of their own.
“No one, man, I just like the word. Velvet,” Blaney said with a smile. “Had some velvet ice cream back there in the cooler. It was really good.’’
Using the word five times during his 9-minue, 25-second session, Blaney had to stop after the third mention because he was laughing so much. Members of the media weren’t far behind.
Considering the 22-year-old rookie is a former XFINITY Series winner at the 0.533-mile beast, the Wood Bros. Racing pilot is looking to carry some of that success to the Cup side where he finished 22nd in his lone start in 2015.
“We’re definitely not where we want to be,” added Blaney. “We’ve had some runs that have been troubling, whether it was our doing or not. Last weekend at Texas was definitely not the best of weekends. We had a really long 500-mile race there, but it’s the way you kind of rebound from those, I think, that speak about your team and how the team can come back.
“We had a great comeback at Las Vegas after Atlanta troubles and I think that speaks a lot for our team. It’s been going OK this year, but we just need to find a little bit more speed and a little bit more consistency and I think that will get our season back on track and we’ll be able to hopefully buy some new velvet sheets or something like that that will help.”
As his session came to an end, Blaney stood up began to walk away, but then reached back for his microphone to say something else, but it was turned off.
Bummer.
Later, Blaney was heard walking out of the media center that the velvet reference “was a bet.”
Whether he won the bet is still unknown, but Blaney’s personality mixed in with a media session made it an enjoyable way to kick start the weekend in “Thunder Valley.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
