On Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway, it was a show that revolved around Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth and Kyle Larson. However, lost in that was the impressive run by a young up-and-coming star in NASCAR.
Ryan Blaney, making his first Nationwide Series start of the season, brought home the No. 22 Discount Tire Mustang in the fourth spot.
“I’m really excited about the finish, especially considering where we started,” Blaney commented post-race. “We started out really loose and we didn’t think it would go that way. We thought we made good adjustments to make sure it was tight enough in the race, but when we took off we were just so loose and fell back.”
Blaney fell from his fifth starting spot to seventh and with a long-green flag run to open up the race, he fell a lap down to Kenseth’s rapid pace. However, a well-timed caution at lap 96 would allow Blaney to get the lucky dog. From that point on, Blaney kept battling hard all the way to fourth.
“Jeremy Bullins and everyone on this No. 22 team did an awesome job of getting this thing where it needed to be,” Blaney commented. “I think if a couple cautions fell at the right time, we might have been able to run second. I don’t know if we had anything for the No. 54, but I’m proud of my guys on this Discount Tire / SKF Ford. I’m really looking forward to the next time I’m in it at Texas.”
While running the full Camping World Truck Series schedule for Brad Keselowski Racing, Blaney is expected to make 15 starts this year in the Nationwide Series. Blaney made three starts last season, scoring a top 10 in each race, including his first career win at Kentucky Speedway. In the truck series, Blaney finished sixth in points in his rookie season with a win and eight top fives. Blaney finished sixth back at Daytona in February’s season opener.
Blaney is one of the drivers that people are looking to see big things in the future – with a possible full-time Nationwide Series schedule in 2015 under the Team Penske banner. So far the second generation driver is living up to expectations.
