Saturday, September 15, 2012
RAM PR
Iowa Speedway
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
American Ethanol 200
Post-Race Quotes
http://twitter.com/teamdodge www.media.chrysler.com www.drivesrt.com
Ryan Blaney (No. 29 Cooper Standard RAM) Race Winner YOU WON IN YOUR THIRD START AND YOU’RE NOW THE YOUNGEST WINNER IN CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES HISTORY. “This is pretty incredible. I’ve got to thank Cooper Standard, Reese Towpower, Draw-Tite and Brad Keselowski for giving me this opportunity. Doug made some great calls there at the end. It’s pretty unbelievable. Hopefully we can get a few more here.
“We had a really good truck for about five laps and then we’d kind of even out. I knew if I could just have the lead through one and two we would have had ‘em. It’s unbelievable. I’ve got to thank Brad Keselowski for giving me this chance and hopefully we get a few more.”
WHAT WAS GOING THROUGH YOUR MIND ON ALL THOSE RESTARTS? AND YOU HAD A VETERAN BESIDE YOU ON EVERY RESTART. “Yeah that was really true. I was having trouble on restarts all night. I could not not make it spin the tires. Whatever I did, starting fast or starting slow, I could not just keep the tires from not spinning and figured out a little thing there at the end and was able to at least hold my own into one and that was really all we needed to do.”
HOW SPECIAL IS IT TO WIN WITH YOUR MOM AND DAD HERE IN VICTORY LANE AND WITH THIS TEAM? “These guys are incredible. They’ve really worked with me here for these few short races. Great my Dad could come out. He flew in from Chicago tonight and half my family is here in the stands. It’s really, really cool to have them here. It’s very cool and hopefully we can get some more.”
Doug Randolph (Crew Chief, No. 29 Cooper Standard RAM) “Man, it was just a pleasure to watch him drive tonight. He was on it. The Cooper Standard RAM was solid all night. The guys on pit road did a great job. I feel great for Ryan and his family. My first crew chiefing gig was with his Dad so I feel really close to the family and it’s exciting to see this.”
Dave Blaney (Ryan Blaney’s Father) YOUR SON IS WINNER IN THE CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES. “It’s exciting. He did a really good job. Doug Randolph made a really good call on the fuel and tires there and it all worked out. A great night.”
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO SEE THE KID HAVING SUCH GREAT SUCCESS AT A YOUNG AGE? “It’s unbelievable. He does such a good job. Thanks to everybody that’s helped him from Tommy Baldwin and especially Brad Keselowski, Penske, everybody. He does so good and he catches on so quick it’s fun to watch.”
David Mayhew (No. 19 Steak and Grape/MMI Wireless Services RAM) Finished 16th YOU STRUGGLED EARLY TONIGHT BUT DID YOU GET THE RAM BETTER? “We worked on it a lot. I don’t know that we ever really got any better; we just kind of went in circles. We’d get one part of the corner better and the next time we’d get a different part of the corner better but right in the center the thing would just not turn. I mean, all night it was just tight no matter what we did. We could free it up getting in and free it up getting off but never right in the center. It was a long night but they’re not always good nights. You live and learn and go on to Kentucky next weekend.”
MEDIA CENTER INTERVIEW
Ryan Blaney (No. 29 Cooper Standard RAM) Race Winner YOU ARE THE SEVENTH FIRST TIME WINNER IN THE SERIES THIS YEAR, THE 12TH DIFFERENT WINNER IN 15 RACES. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO CAPTURE THIS WIN FOR BRAD KESELOWSKI RACING? “Well it definitely really special. Like you said, getting the first one for Brad Keselowski Racing, that’s great, that I could do it here. This Trucks team really means a lot to him and for me to do that for him really means a lot. We were good all weekend. We were not as good as the 7 truck (Parker Kligerman) leading up into the race. I think we could hang with the 7 truck in the race. He was a little bit better than us on long runs but it seemed like on restarts we were better than him for about five or seven laps and then at the end on restarts it kind of played to our advantage. I knew if we were just side-by-side with some second place guy getting into one, we were probably going to beat ‘em off of two. We were just strong on restarts all night. It was good to have Cooper Standard on board and here in Iowa where half my family is. Overall just a good night to have my family here; it was a good night so hopefully we can have some more.”
Doug Randolph (Crew Chief, No. 29 Cooper Standard RAM) WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO YOU TO BE ABLE TO COME TO IOWA WITH RYAN IN HIS THIRD START AND CAPTURE THE WIN? “Well I mean it’s a great feeling. It was really fun tonight watching Ryan and he made some incredible passes. I really want to thank Brad for giving us all this opportunity. He’s really helped us. We know we’ve been behind with our program and he’s allowed us to continue to improve and make it better. I really enjoy and it’s pretty neat to be here with Ryan and Dave ‘cause my first crew chiefing job was with Dave and you know I felt like there was a lot of nights that we should have been sitting right here and it didn’t quite work out. I felt like a couple of ‘em got away and it’s great to come full circle and make it happen with Ryan.”
Dave Blaney (Ryan Blaney’s Father) YOU GOT HERE THIS AFTERNOON RIGHT BEFORE THE START OF THE RACE. TALK ABOUT GETTING TO THE TRACK AND BEING HERE WITH RYAN AND A PART OF HIS FIRST WIN. “I was glad I could get over. It sounded like it went really well yesterday and this morning in practice and you know Ryan was fired up. Like Doug said, he did a tremendous job all night in traffic, ran really hard when he needed to and not so much when he didn’t. He just did it all right. You know Doug made a really good call on tires there midway through the race. It ended up being the perfect call and got him in position and brought it home.”
Ryan Blaney: WHY WERE THERE SO MANY CAUTIONS TONIGHT? “You tell me. I couldn’t see ‘em all. All I knew is I’d run a lap, get away about three truck lengths and then a caution would come out. I’m not sure why there were so many at the end and so little there in the middle of the race. Guys just getting antsy I guess.”
YOU LIKED TO RESTART ON THE HIGH SIDE. WAS THAT AN ADVANTAGE? “Well in the K&N car we always start on the high side. You can get over the bump better and you can kind of pinch that guy down in one and just limit his room to get a run off the corner. It’s really just getting over the bump a lot better than the guy so you choose the outside if you’re the leader there.”
Dave Blaney: HOW SPECIAL IS IT FOR YOU BECAUSE ONE OF YOUR BIGGEST WINS CAME JUST DOWN THE ROAD HERE? “Well that’s true. My wife is from within an hour of here and her whole family is close and a lot of ‘em were here tonight. That’s a very cool thing. I’m just glad I was here to see it. You know I got to see his first K&N win at Phoenix last fall and this one. He does a really nice job and he’s coming along so quick it’s just cool to be a part of it. You know I can’t thank Brad Keselowski and everybody at Penske enough for having the faith in him to go ahead and run him in all this stuff and look at his future and Brad’s been instrumental in bringing Ryan along and help him get through the learning process here.”
Ryan Blaney: HAVE YOU HEARD FROM BRAD YET? WHAT DID HE HAVE TO SAY IF YOU’VE HEARD FROM HIM? “I haven’t heard from him yet. Haven’t had my phone on me. Probably going to call him here in a little bit.”
WHAT’S THE FIRST THING YOU’RE GOING TO TELL HIM WHEN YOU TALK TO HIM? “Probably thank you for giving me this opportunity and letting me drive his truck. It’s been great getting in with Penske and getting in with Brad. I’ve learned a whole lot from him in just about a month and a half that I’ve been close to him. I think we just keep building on our relationship making his team better, me getting better and hopefully we’ll have even a lot better runs here, a lot better finishes here.”
YOU ARE SCHEDULED TO RUN BOTH THE TRUCK AND NATIONWIDE RACES AT KENTUCKY. WHAT DOES THIS WIN DO FOR YOUR MOMENTUM HEADING INTO NEXT WEEKEND? “Well every time you win the week before it always boosts your team, boosts your self-confidence going into the next week. It’s really just a bonus and everyone is all fired up from the previous week. And as a driver confidence is a really big thing driving race cars. Your confidence level is just sky high when you win the week before. So I think it’s just always an added bonus being the winners the previous week and everyone always looks out for you.”
