WILD RACE FOR BLANEY IN BRISTOL
March 18, 2024
HARD-FOUGHT NIGHT IN RICHMOND FOR THE 12 TEAM
April 5, 2024‘WORK TO DO’ AFTER MAKING GAINS AT COTA
RACE RUNDOWN
RYAN BLANEY No. 12 MENARDS/JACK LINK'S FORD MUSTANG
START: 28TH
STAGE ONE: 23RD
STAGE TWO: 2ND
FINISH: 12TH
POINTS: 3RD
Ryan Blaney and the No. 12 Menards/Jack Link's Ford Mustang team fought their way to a 12th-place finish Sunday at Circuit of the Americas in the NASCAR Cup Series' first road course event of the 2024 season. After starting 28th, Blaney gained seven spots in the first five laps before making his first trip to pit road under green with four laps remaining in the opening stage, resulting in a 23rd-place finish in Stage 1. The No. 12 team's strategy call to flip the stage saw Blaney line up 15th for the start of Stage 2 as he battled his way towards the top-10. As green flag pit stops began in the latter stages of the second segment, Blaney was scored second with two to go and got within two car lengths of the leader but ultimately settled for a second-place finish in Stage 2. Following a four-tire stop at the stage break, Blaney worked his way up to 18th during the opening laps of the final stage before going for a spin in turn 11 that saw him drop out of the top-20 in the running order. Despite the setback, Blaney worked his way back through the field and made his final pit stop with 17 laps to go and made up 11 positions over the course of the final run to come away with a 12-place finish.
Blaney's Thoughts
"We didn't start great. We got some stage points in Stage 2 and then the start of Stage 3 we were really good and drove up to the low teens and I spun out passing somebody into [turn] 11. That set us back. Then we drove back through the field to finish 12th. I thought we had pretty decent at the end, we just didn't start up front. Spinning out didn't help. We probably could have run seventh or eighth, but we still have some work to do."
