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Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney defeated William Byron in the first semi-final of bracket-elimination qualifying but lost the pole to Kyle Busch in the final round at Texas Motor Speedway.
The 28-year-old driver, however, is not in a bad position and will start alongside Busch on the front row for Sunday’s All-Star Race.
During the post-qualifying interview, Blaney spoke about the new qualifying elimination format for this week’s Cup Series race. Blaney said the format was more important for the pit crew and was good because it worked out decently for his No.12 team. He went on to say that if the result goes against him then his answer will be the opposite.
He said:
“It was decent, I guess. It was better than doing nothing. It puts a big emphasis on the pit crew, for sure. Our only job is to not stall it getting to the box and stop on the sign. I think a couple of guys did stall. It puts a big emphasis on those guys and their skillset. I am saying it is good because it worked out decent for us. If it went bad for us I would be saying the opposite.”
Ryan Blaney looked quite disappointed with the lane choice. The Hartford Township native later said that the bottom was better and that his team was not in a bad position for Sunday’s race.
He said:
“It was unique and I thought our guys did a good job. We got hurt on the lane choice there. I thought the bottom was better but we aren’t in a bad spot for tomorrow.”
“Yeah, I thought our stop was honestly a little faster than his”- Ryan Blaney
Based on the new format, there is no speed limit and drivers can exit their pit road directly onto the track. Ryan Blaney thought his stop was a little faster. He was on top in the first round, bottom in the second, and again top in the final round.
The 28-year-old said:
“Yeah, I thought our stop was honestly a little faster than his. I was on the top for the first round, bottom in the second round, and top in the last round. I could notice a big difference. The bottom launched a lot better after you got done with your stop. I was hoping that the 5 would beat the 18 in their round because then I would have had lane choice but it just didn’t work out that way.”
Catch Ryan Blaney at Texas Motor Speedway for the All-Star Race on Sunday at 8:00 p.m. EST.
