19 year old Camping World Truck Series regular, Ryan Blaney puts on an impressive performance driving the No. 22 Discount Tires Ford in the Kentucky 300 at Kentucky Speedway. Blaney led 96 laps en route to victory. He also became the fourth different driver to win in the car this season and the tenth win of the season for the No. 22.
Blaney had to hold off strong challenges from his Penske teammate Sam Hornish Jr and Richard Childress Racing driver, Austin Dillon. At one point on a restart, Hornish and Blaney were side by side when Hornish got loose and almost took out both cars. Hornish, however, pulled off an amazing save and only lost a few positions.
A similar situation happened with Dillon as well, with Dillon getting loose under the No.22, he too was able to save the car. Blaney never faltered, held off all challenges and looked like a seasoned veteran while doing so. He never seemed to get rattled under the pressure.
When asked about the close calls Blaney responded, “The way the restart rule is now, you never know what’s going to happen. How big of a shove someone is going to give somebody, I was really worried on that last restart when the 33 was behind Austin there, their teammates and I thought they were going to push right passed me but I don’t think the 33 got a great restart. But yeah it was very tough to hang on the bottom in one and two, I think there were some water spots down there that definitely made it worse, and then you got a gut hanging on your outside that just gets you aero loose so there a couple hairy moments there but luckily we could … had a good enough car that to be at that point where it didn’t hurt us when they got loose under us.”
The win was Blaney’s first in 15 Nationwide Series starts and also another step toward the owner’s championship for the No.22. The team now holds a 23 point lead over the Joe Gibbs Racing entry No. 54.
The next stop for the series is the 5-Hour Energy 200 at Dover International Raceway on September 28.
