BLANEY BATTLES TO STRONG FINISH AT GATEWAY

Ryan Blaney and the No. 12 Menards/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse team returned to form Sunday afternoon at World Wide Technology Raceway, rallying back from an incident late in Stage 2 to come away with a fourth-place finish, marking Blaney's 11th top-five result of the season. Blaney took the green flag from fifth and settled into fourth in the running order during the opening run before a pair of cautions late in Stage 1 prompting varying strategies throughout the field. Blaney was kept on track in both instances in order to maintain track position and the strategy paid off as he picked up six stage points with a fifth-place showing in Stage 1. After coming down pit road for the first time during the stage caution, Blaney lined up to take the ensuing restart from 28th and began to make his way back towards the front, reaching 13th on the leaderboard by the time the caution flag flew on lap 75. After staying out while a mix of the leaders hit pit road, Blaney lined up to take the restart from the inside of row three with 58 to go in the segment before settling into fifth by lap 100. Following a several laps-long battle with the No. 5 for the fifth position, Blaney was on the wrong end of contact in turn four from the No. 5 with six laps to go in Stage 2, sending the Menards/Pennzoil Ford for a slide through the corner and bringing out the caution. Blaney was forced to come down pit road for four fresh tires prior to the one-lap shootout to end the stage, resulting in a 17th-place finish in Stage 2. The No. 12 team continued to work its way back from its loss of track position as Blaney charged his way back into the top-10 with under 80 laps remaining. Crew chief Jonathan Hassler opted to run longer during the green flag pit cycle with one stop remaining to make it to the end, allowing Blaney to take the lead on lap 203 before getting called to pit road three laps later. The final caution flag of the afternoon flew as Blaney was making his way off of pit road and did so without losing a lap in the process, making him the last car on the lead lap at the time. After a majority of the field came down pit road under yellow, Blaney vaulted to 11th prior to the final restart of the day and made up five spots in the first two laps of the run before ultimately taking the checkered flag fourth. Blaney and the No. 12 team enter the third and final race of the Round of 16 in fifth in the points standings, 42 points above the elimination line.