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Ryan Blaney's 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season has turned out to be bitter-sweet for the Team Penske driver. The #12 Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang driver managed to visit Victory Lane this year in the All-Star Race held at Texas Motor Speedway last month. While the exhibition-style weekend does award the winner a sum of $1 million, no championship points are awarded for the same.
Blaney managed to edge out his rivals at the Fort Worth, Texas track and bag a considerable amount of money but hasn't been able to win a point-scoring race yet. The 28-year-old sits in the third position on the drivers' standings table, highlighting the consistency in his performance.
Last weekend's Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway was another of Blaney's strongest races. He competed at the front of the pack for most of the race but lacked the extra speed required to challenge for the win. The Hartford Township, Ohio native elaborated on how his car felt faster before the rain delay and said:
“I’m not sure as the race kind of kept progressing later into the night I thought we lost some ground between some of the other cars. I thought hot and slick during the day we were pretty competitive and then something went down and I didn’t think we were as good.”
After Ryan Blaney's spin under the green flag on the concrete oval, the team made a crucial strategic call to get the #12 Ford Mustang driver back up the ranks. He explained the move post-race and said:
“I had to go to the back and then spun out trying too hard. Jonathan [Hassler, crew chief] made a good call to stay out the last stop. Why not, running ninth and was able to run third, so that was a good call by him. Overall, I wish it was in the hot and slick of the day because I thought we were a little bit more competitive, but not a bad finish.”
Blaney will be trying his luck next weekend as NASCAR heads to Road America for the Kwik Trip 250 presented by Jockey Made In America for some road course racing action.
Ryan Blaney thinks rain-delay restart of Ally 400 last weekend hampered his performance
Ryan Blaney had a good comeback drive at last weekend's Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway where the #12 Ford Mustang driver managed to recover to a third-place finish after a mid-race spin.
The race itself saw a rain delay after the event started at its original scheduled time, due to which cars had to be parked to wait for the weather to clear out. As the sun went down and the track dried up post-showers, Blaney felt the #12 car was better in the hot and humid conditions before the restart. He elaborated on the topic post-race and said:
“After that rain-delay restart, I didn’t think we was as fast as the other cars. We didn’t lose speed but we didn’t pick up the speed that the sun going down bought other cars.”
Watch the complete interview below:
Watch out for Ryan Blaney next weekend as NASCAR heads to Road America next weekend for the Kwik Trip 250 presented by Jockey Made In America.
