NASCAR XFINITY Series Race Report
Track: Dover International Speedway
Race: Drive Sober 200
Date: October 2, 2016
No. 22 Fitzgerald Glider Kits Ford Mustang – Ryan Blaney
Start: 3rd
Finish: 4th
Status: Running
Laps Completed: 250/250
Laps Led: 0
Owners’ Points Position (behind leader): 4th (-11)
Recap: Ryan Blaney substituted for Joey Logano in the NASCAR XFINITY Series Drive Sober 200 at Dover International Speedway, finishing fourth in a race that was delayed until Sunday morning due to rain on Saturday. Joey Logano was scheduled to drive the No. 22 Fitzgerald Glider Kits Ford Mustang at Dover and practiced the car on Friday. However, persistent rain showers and heavy mist on Saturday forced the race to be delayed until Sunday morning. With Logano in the middle of the Chase in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Blaney was called upon to drive the No. 22 so Logano wouldn’t have to perform double-duty in the same day. Because of the driver switch, Blaney had to drop to the back of the field at the start of the event. However, the 22-year-old driver didn’t stay back there long and raced his way from 38th to the top-10 in just 35 laps. By lap 65, Blaney was in the top-five and running his fastest laps of the day despite having a loose car. Blaney worried that the team over-adjusted the car in the middle portions of the 200-lap event, but was able to continue to run inside the top-10. On the final restart of the race, with just under 50 laps to go, Blaney found himself third, but slipped back to fourth as the final run went on. The youngster would run fourth for the rest of the event. The fourth-place finish, Blaney’s third top-five NXS finish this season, kept the No. 22 team fourth in the XFINITY Series Owners’ point standings.
Quote: “It wasn’t quite what we wanted. We obviously want to finish better, but it wasn’t that bad all day. There was a point in the day where I thought we were decent early, and then kind of over-adjusted and the track changed. The 19 was ridiculously fast. That was incredible, but we probably could have run second, but didn’t quite get going on the last restart and couldn’t quite be close enough. It was fun to drive this Fitzgerald Ford Mustang after not planning to do it because of the rain. Joey had the car set up fast and I’m sure he would have liked to have driven it, but it made the most sense for him to set out and focus on the Cup race later today.”
