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Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney finished in fourth place at the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 at Martinsville Speedway last Sunday.
The team as a whole had a good weekend at the Virginia racetrack with their other driver, Joey Logano, finishing in second place. The 28-year-old spoke to track-side media about their difficulties in the race, and touched upon following other cars in dirty air, just like other drivers.
There has been a lot of discussion about the Next Gen car's ability to race on short tracks and whether the cold temperatures on Sunday played a part, if any.
When asked if more power would solve the issue, Blaney replied:
“Yes, it definitely wouldn’t have hurt it. You could spin tires pretty good late in runs – like with 80 laps on your stuff you could spin tires – but if you were just in dirty air behind the guy on exit too, so you were spinning tires just as bad even though if you thought you had better drive than him."
The Ohio native further explained how shifting does not necessarily mean there will be a lot of overtaking, and said:
"Everyone is like, ‘Oh, you’re shifting and you should be able to get runs on guys.’ Well, everyone is shifting. The guy in front of you is shifting, so you can’t get a run on the guy who is doing the same thing as you are, so I don’t know."
Ryan Blaney suggests softer tires might be better at short tracks
Ryan Blaney spoke to track-side media after a fourth-place finish at the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 last Sunday about possible solutions to racing in dirty air.
The Team Penske driver doesn't think a whole different body for short tracks would work, as it would mean re-engineering the whole car. However, he thinks softer tire compounds are a possible solution, and said:
"Probably help it a little bit with the tire maybe? Tire's gonna help it so much. Especially a short track tire, you're not going that fast you can soften the hell out of that thing, especially left sides."
Watch the interview below:
NASCAR heads to Bristol Motor Speedway next weekend for the Food City Dirt Race.
