BLANEY CHARGES TO THIRD AT CHARLOTTE

After practice and qualifying were canceled for inclement weather, Ryan Blaney started from the fourth position for Sunday's Bank of America 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The No. 12 Discount Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse ran within the top-10 early on in the race up until the competition caution at lap 35. Pitting under the yellow flag with the rest of the field, Blaney suffered a speeding penalty and had to restart at the tail end of the field. From the ensuing restart, he made up more than 20 positions to finish 10th at the end of Stage 1, following it up with a second-place result in Stage 2 after running within the top-five for most of that race stanza. The No. 12 pit crew was able to get Blaney off pit road first to have him lead the field to green for Stage 3 where he led the first four laps of the final stage. In the last 55 laps of the race, Blaney fought back from a lengthy pitstop that put him in the backhalf of the top-10, ultimately finishing in the third position by the checkered flag, his third consecutive top-10 result. Heading to Phoenix next weekend, Blaney and the No. 12 team are fifth in the Cup Series point standings with four races remaining in the season.