BLANEY SHOWS EARLY SPEED BEFORE PIT ROAD DAMAGE DERAILS DAY AT KANSAS

Ryan Blaney and the No. 12 Menards/Scott's Ford Mustang Dark Horse team battled through a damaged splitter suffered in Stage 1 Sunday at Kansas Speedway, ultimately resulting in a 24th-place finish. Blaney maintained top-10 pace during the opening run of the 400-mile event before the first green flag pit cycle took place as crew chief Jonathan Hassler called the No. 12 Menards/Scott's Ford to pit road on lap 38. Following the four tire stop, Blaney made contact with the left side door of the No. 16 as he was exiting his stall and caused damage to the right side of the No. 12's splitter. Blaney went on to finish 15th in Stage 1 before making two stops on pit road between stages to make repairs. After restarting from the tail end of the field as the last car on the lead lap, Blaney began to fight handling issues throughout the second stage and ended up going a lap down during the green flag pit cycle as he was scored 21st at the end of Stage 2. The long, green flag runs kept Blaney trapped a lap down over the course of the final stretch of the afternoon before taking the checkered flag 24th in the end.