THE RACE
Virginia529 College Savings 250 at Richmond International Raceway (.75-mile oval, Richmond, Va.)
No. 22 Hertz Ford Mustang driven by Ryan Blaney
Friday, September 5, 7:30 PM ET
THE BROADCAST
Race: Virginia529 College Savings 250
Track: Richmond International Raceway
Race Start Time: 7:30 pm ET
Radio Broadcast: Live on MRN and SIRIUS XM NASCAR Channel 90
THE Q & A
The No. 22 Hertz Ford Mustang
· TWO RACES, TWO WINS: The last two times 20-year-old Ryan Blaney has been on the track in a NASCAR sanctioned event, he’s finished the race in Victory Lane. Blaney won the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway two weeks ago. He followed that up last weekend by winning his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race of the year, taking the checkers at the Canadian Tire Motorsports Park road course in Mosport, Ontario, Canada. It was Blaney’s first career win on a road course.
· BULLINS KNOWS BEST: With his victory at Bristol Motor Speedway, crew chief Jeremy Bullins notched his 19th-career win as a NASCAR Nationwide Series crew chief. Those 19 wins have come in just 90 races. They have also come with four different drivers, including Blaney, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano and AJ Allmendinger. In his 90 races as a crew chief, Bullins has also amassed 50 top-fives and 70 top-10 finishes.
· RUNNING UP FRONT: Blaney has been a threat to run up front this season in the NASCAR Nationwide Series with the No. 22 Hertz Ford Mustang. Blaney has led laps in four of his last five starts in the series, including 80 at Iowa and 47 at Chicagoland. He has led a total of 136 laps this season in the Nationwide Series.
· NO MORE TIRE ISSUES: Back in April, Blaney looked to have an easy top-five finish going in the Nationwide Series event at Richmond when tire issues began to plague the team. After starting third and then running in the top-five all night, two separate tires came apart on Blaney over the course of the race. Despite the problems, Blaney was able to finish ninth. In three-career NASCAR Nationwide Series starts at the track, Blaney has scored finishes of seventh, ninth and ninth.
· GETTING USE TO THE SEAT: The No. 22 Hertz team will be able to keep Blaney’s seat insert handy over the next few weeks. Blaney will compete in three of the next four events, including Richmond, Chicagoland and Kansas.
RYAN BLANEY, NO. 22 HERTZ FORD
YOU HAVE BEEN HOT LATELY, WINNING IN BOTH THE TRUCKS AND NATIONWIDE. HOW DO YOU KEEP THAT GOING IN RICHMOND?
“It has been a fun ride for sure. Things have been going good over the last couple of weeks. Winning at Bristol was huge and then winning a road course event in the Trucks last weekend, and winning with a last turn pass like we did, was so much fun. So things are going well right now. We just need to keep it up. I learned a lot earlier this year at Richmond, and I think I can use some of that this weekend. Jeremy (Bullins) and I have a little bit of a notebook to go off of too to have some better ideas and a better place to start when we get there. Things are just going well right now, so I just want to keep it up. It would be really cool to win a second Nationwide Series race this season and to do it at Richmond.”
JEREMY BULLINS, CREW CHIEF, NO. 22 HERTZ FORD
YOU ARE HEADED BACK TO RICHMOND FOR A SECOND TIME WITH RYAN. CAN YOU REPEAT THE SUCCESS OF BRISTOL?
“I feel like we were more prepared with Ryan when we went to Bristol because he was able to run there earlier in the year for us, so we came into the weekend with the notes that we had from the first race. I think we can do that again in Richmond. It was a big deal for him and for the Hertz team to win that race in Bristol. It wasn’t a standalone race. We won with Ryan against some of the best and some stout Cup Series drivers. We will have that same chance again this weekend. I think Ryan learned a lot the first time around, and I did as well, so we have a leg up going into this weekend.”
