It’s not often that Team Penske fields a third car in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, but in the pinnacle scene of NASCAR’s backyard, it made sense.
The No. 12 Western Star Ford Mustang piloted by Ryan Blaney made the team’s decision a good one, racking in a solid fourth place finish in Friday night’s Drive for the Cure 300 presented by Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina.
“It was a great night for us,” said Blaney. “This just being a one-off deal team with Greg Erwin (crew chief) and getting a bunch of guys together at the race shop to come to the race track it’s pretty neat to see the hard work they put in pay off.”
Blaney’s strong night however didn’t come without potential disaster. Late in the race, Blaney faced climbing temperatures with debris on the grille and soon-to-be overheating, but thanks to race traffic, the debris flew away and allowed Blaney to contend for his second win of the season.
Utilizing strategy, the three-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series winner found himself in the top-five, following the seventh caution of the race, putting him on the outside lane with race leader Brendan Gaughan on a Lap 173 restart.
The two drivers put on a hellacious battle, before Blaney used momentum to clear Gaughan a lap later and lead 13 laps, before a tight condition set in and allowed Team Penske teammate Brad Keselowski to close in and ultimately take the top-spot away on Lap 187.
Blaney’s tight condition worsen over the final 13 laps, forcing a brief slide to fourth, 2.7 seconds behind Keselowski’s fourth victory of the season.
“The first couple of laps it was really good,” offered Blaney of the final restart. “I thought, ‘If it stays, we can do this,’ because they weren’t gaining on us. And then about lap seven of that run I was starting to get a little tight again, like I was every run, and I was just two tires, so that was making it get tighter and tighter. I knew it was gonna be tough to hold Brad (Keselowski) off, but it was fun racing with Larson there at the end.”
Blaney’s limited schedule in the NASCAR Nationwide Series this season has been nothing short of impressive. In 12 races, Blaney has one pole, a win at Bristol Motor Speedway in August, eight top-fives and 11 top-10 runs.
Race winner Keselowski said that the High Point, North Carolina native put himself in contention to win Friday night’s race, even in tough circumstances.
“He did a helluva job tonight,” said Keselowski. “It’s always tough for a driver to come into this series when you don’t run it full-time, any series and run well, it’s always a very strong accomplishment. But then, add that to the 12 team along with that, that doesn’t run full-time and you have two really big hurdles to climb and I think saying that, both of those groups whether it’s the driver or the team did a really good job putting themselves in position to win the race at the end. Both have my respect.”
The 31-time Nationwide winner added, “He’s doing a great job. He’s controlling what he can control. He’s earning every opportunity he’s got. And if he continues to do that, he’ll find himself in a really good position here very shortly.”
With all that being said, (it’s) hard to imagine why Blaney isn’t being courted to potentially a full-time NASCAR Nationwide Series ride in 2015, while running a part-time Cup schedule with Wood Bros. Racing.
Follow Chris Knight o Twitter @Knighter01.
