NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Fred’s 250 presented by Coca-Cola
Talladega Superspeedway
Post-Race Quotes
RAM PR
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Ryan Blaney (No. 29 Draw-Tite RAM) Finished Fifth TAKE US THROUGH YOUR RACE TODAY: “It was a pretty crazy race. For my first superspeedway race, it was really cool. To bring this Draw-Tite RAM home fifth is really cool for everyone at BKR (Brad Keselowski Racing). This was the first time that Draw-Tite was on the truck with me driving it.
“Man, we almost got a win. I think that Kurt (Busch) and me were coming there really fast at the end and had a shot to win this thing. We came off that last corner and were really hooked up before the caution flag came out. I had a lot of fun. I made some mistakes. Had to drop back, drive back to the front and led some laps. We were able to run back to the front every time that we got dropped back. Our RAM was fast.”
IT LOOKED LIKE YOU WERE REALLY PATIENT EARLY ON IN THE RACE JUST TRYING TO FIGURE OUT TALLADEGA? “Yeah. I just wanted to run the first-half of the race and try to understand the draft and how the truck would handle. I could put (it) anywhere on the track and find speed. I had the one incident with (Miguel) Paludo where I got pushed back to 20th or so and had to fight my way back to the front. I pushed Kurt up to the lead one time and then he turned around and pushed me to the front. I knew the outside line was probably going to be better so I tried to use that to my advantage. There was one time…the second to last restart…I choose the high lane and the truck didn’t go like I wanted to. Just a fun race.”
YOU TALKED TO BRAD KESELOWSKI AND YOUR DAD (DAVE) ABOUT TALLADEGA, WHAT DID YOU LEARN TODAY? “I learned the ups and downs, highs and lows of Talladega. We were in the lead and in 25th about two times. I’m really happy to bring this Draw-Tite RAM home fifth at my first superspeedway race. That was fun. I think if the race would have gone all the way to the checkered-flag without the yellow flag coming out that Kurt and I would have gotten there. I can’t wait until the next race I can do this again.”
WAS SUPERSPEEDWAY RACING WHAT YOU EXPECTED? “You race a lot closer than you think (laughs). You’re three-wide all race and it’s so easy to make a mistake. I think it was a clean race. I just wish that we could have run to the finish line with Kurt to see if I had a shot at winning this thing.”
Doug Randolph (Crew Chief, No. 29 Draw-Tite RAM) CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE RACE THAT YOUR YOUNG DRIVER HAD TODAY? “It was a great race. To come to Talladega, never having raced on a superspeedway before, and have the performance that he did is incredible. He showed an incredible amount of talent and patience all day. Trying to figure this place out, bump drafting, and everything that goes on here is really special. I thought that we had a pretty good Draw-Tite RAM all day. Ryan was able to keep the truck out of trouble and showed that we had the speed to run anywhere on the track. Ryan did a great job. It was a typical Talladega race where you go from the front-to-the-back to the front again. Just a cool deal.”