Photo Credit: Noel Lanier
Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 21 Motorcraft Ford, had a great run in the Go Bowling 400 at Kansas Speedway. Blaney finished the race fifth position and was the highest finishing Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender. This was his first top-five and fourth top-10 finish.
“Yeah, we started off the race really, really good,” Blaney sad. “I thought that was when we were strongest, when the sun was up, the track was a little bit hotter. We were really strong then. Then as the night came, it cooled off a little bit, we lost a little bit of speed. I felt like everyone kind of gained grip and got better, and we lost a little bit. It took us a while to try to get that back.
“We got it closer towards the end there. But still a decent finish for us. We got some spots with that little accident. But we were up there all day. Just a good day for us, good night, something to build off of, for sure.”
With 26 laps to go, there was a big wreck involving drivers Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin. Blaney was lucky he was behind it and didn’t get caught up into it.
“I was right behind it,” Blaney said. “I don’t know what happened. I didn’t see who got loose, who got into who. I saw smoke, had to bail out of there. The 22 (Joey Logano) got tore up. He was pretty fast towards the end of the night. I don’t know if the 2 finished. That stunk for them. I felt like their cars were pretty good at the end of the race. I think it actually hurt my car a little bit. Had (indiscernible) to the apron a little bit. It actually hurt the nose a little bit, which was unfortunate. But luckily we were able to get by that and move on.”
Kansas Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway are both similar in some ways. Blaney thinks some of the things he learned during this race will help him later on in the month when they race at Charlotte.
“Yeah, that’s a really good question,” Blaney said. “I think for sure, we definitely can learn stuff. Even though it’s a different track, different surface, you can definitely learn things of what these cars do when tracks cool off and it goes from day to night. There are things he we can sit back and apply for the 600 in a few weeks.”
Certainly Blaney is happy about his performance in the race, however his top-five will give him and his family a little boost after his father Dave Blaney was involved in a sprint car. His dad flipped in time trials at Eldora Raceway, before being transported to a local hospital where he was released later Friday night.
“He’s fine,” Blaney said. “My dad, he got out of the hospital this morning. He called me this morning when he got out. He was still laying in the hotel room, about to come home. I think he got home actually in time for the race, so I think he was able to watch the race. He got his bell rung pretty good, but he’s all right.”
Blaney was relieved when he got the call saying that his dad was okay. It helped take a little bit of a load off his shoulders and he could focus a little more on the race at hand.
“Yeah, it did,”Blaney said. “I knew last night he was going to be all right. I was scared for one second because we got done qualifying yesterday and I get back to the motorhome. I laid my phone in the bus. I got all these text messages: Heard the news, is everything all right? What news? Am I in trouble? Is there anything we can do to help? What’s going on?
“It’s amazing how you find out what’s going on on Twitter from other people than getting texts or calls or something like that. When I initially saw it, I was a little worried because they made it sound worse than what it was on Twitter. I called one of his crew guys, and he told me he was going to be all right. He was alert and awake and everything like that. I haven’t seen a video of it. I was told there was a video of it. I don’t know if I want to watch it. He’s going to be all right. He’s probably mad he’s going to be out of Sprint Cups for a little bit, but that’s the only thing he’ll be upset about.”
Blaney, as happy he is that his dad is okay, said it didn’t add any motivation to the race. He was going to go in and race as hard as he could and give it his all.
“Not really,” Blaney said. “I wasn’t any different going into this race than I was last week or the week before that. People always — don’t always, but especially last night and day, they’re like, Oh, I’m so happy he’s okay, everything like that. I’m grateful he’s all right and everything, but you got to know this is part of the sport. This is the risk we take when we get in any kind of racecar. It didn’t affect me too much. He’s doing what he likes to do, doing what he loves. Things happen like that. Might be a little harsh to say. Maybe I’m not saying it right. But it didn’t really add any focus or anything like that. I was going into this race normal like I always do.”
