JOLIET, Ill. – Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney had a long day at Chicagoland (Ill.) Speedway.
After qualifying 10th, Blaney muscled his No. 12 BodyArmor Ford Mustang towards the front and then Mother Nature invaded. Severe thunderstorms halted the race and forced a nearly three-hour delay before engines re-fired before 6:00 p.m. (Central).
With a strong race car on his side, Blaney pitted before the race resumed and restarted ninth and rocketed up to second – showcasing he could be a factor to become the third Team Penske driver to win a race this season.
Unfortunately, much like Blaney has experienced throughout 2019, circumstances would happen and attempt to derail his No. 12 team.
While running inside the top-10, Blaney had to pit under green before the end of Stage 1 for a right-side tire coming a part.
Trapped a lap down, Blaney would have to wait until the end of Stage 2 before getting back on the lead lap courtesy of the free pass.
Luckily for Blaney, 25, a long green flag run during Stage 3 and quick work by his Team Penske pit crew allowed him to climb from the back to the front and reach sixth by the time the checkered flag waved at Lap 267.
“Myself and two other cars blew tires at the same time early in the race and that stunk,” offered Blaney. We were running second and put a splash of gas in it to end the first stage. There were five or six guys doing that and the right rear started peeling apart and that pretty much ruined our day.”
Even with his seventh top-10 finish of the year, Blaney believed he had a car that could have won the race, especially after chewing away into eventual winner Alex Bowman’s lead in the closing laps.
We went a lap down and had to play catch-up all day,” Blaney added. “I think we gained seven seconds on the leader there during the last run, so today, the fastest car didn’t win the race.”
Despite the roller-coaster day, Blaney scored his third consecutive top-10 finish in Cup Series competition and heads to Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway for next Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 – a track where Blaney often showcases his superspeedway craft aligned with a strong race car.
And while he dropped a spot in the championship standings from ninth to 10th following Chicagoland, the High Point, N.C.-native remains well in the Playoff spectrum with nine races remaining in the regular season.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
