TRIUMPH AT TALLADEGA
October 3, 2023
STRONG, LONG-RUN SPEED CONTRIBUTES TO TOP-10 FINISH IN VEGAS
October 16, 2023CAUTION SPOILS ‘OFF STRATEGY’ AT THE ROVAL
RACE RUNDOWN
RYAN BLANEY No. 12 DISCOUNT TIRE FORD MUSTANG
START: 17TH
STAGE ONE: 17TH
STAGE TWO: 15TH
FINISH: 12TH
POINTS: 8TH
After clinching a spot in the NASCAR Playoffs Round of 8 last Sunday in Talladega, Ryan Blaney closed out the Round of 12 with a 12th-place finish in the Bank of America ROVAL 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Blaney started the 109-lap event from 17th and reported a tight-handling condition during the first green flag run of the day, prompting a scheduled stop on lap 16 for four tires, fuel, and a round of adjustments. As green flag stops continued to cycle through the end of the opening stage, Blaney raced his way back to 17th by the end of the 25-lap segment. The No. 12 team kept Blaney on the track during the stage break – allowing the Discount Tire Ford Mustang to line up 11th for the ensuing restart – and continued to experience some of the same handling issues on during the opening run of Stage 2. The caution flag flew with two laps remaining in the second stage while running 15th as Stage 2 came to a close under yellow. A green flag stop with ten laps remaining in Stage 2 allowed Blaney to stay out during the break and vaulted him to sixth in the running order for the following restart as he settled into the top-10. As the leaders began to hit pit road under green, Blaney continued to make laps and cycled to the lead on lap 72 as he continued to build the distance between he and the No. 16 running in second who was coming off of a green flag stop. The No. 12 team’s gamble to go off-cycle from the rest of the field nearly paid off, but a caution on lap 76 forced Blaney to come to pit road under yellow for a four-tire stop, relegating him to 26th in the running order for the following restart. On the opening lap of the restart, the field stacked up at the exit of turn four and sparked a multi-car incident to bring out the caution on lap 79 as Blaney suffered minor nose damage. Blaney continued to evade on-track incidents over the course of the final 25 laps as he raced his way back into the top-15 before taking the checkered flag 12th to close out the afternoon.
Blaney enters the opening race of the Round of 8 eighth in the points standings, ten points below the cut line.
Blaney's Thoughts
"It wasn’t a bad day. Our Discount Tire Ford Mustang was pretty decent on mainly long runs we could kind of go. I don’t think we had the short run speed, but the long runs were good and you’d kind of get to the back of a train of cars and just kind of stop. We were all running the same speed. We tried to get off strategy a little bit there. We stayed out long and then tried to pit after 10 laps to have a tire advantage and the caution came out and we had to restart last, so that kind of hurt us. Overall, I’m proud of the effort today - and obviously last week - and we’re really looking forward to getting to Vegas."
