Ryan Blaney all set for Nationwide Series debut
By the end of last year, the opportunity to run a half dozen Nationwide races during the 2012 season began to take shape and running those races will likely play a big factor in what becomes of Ryan Blaney’s racing career.
[media-credit name=”Robert Lahser – charlotteobserver.com” align=”alignright” width=”197″]
[/media-credit]The spotlight will grow on him as he races in the K&N Pro Series East race at Richmond International Speedway on April 26th. Which will certainly be an advantage to Blaney who will be making his Nationwide Series debut the following day.
“Yeah, it’s going to be a big advantage racing the day before. I raced in the K&N series last year, it was my first race in K&N, and I really like the track. It’s one of my favorite racetracks that we run at. I think they’re around the same time we’ll be racing Nationwide at K&N.”
“So it gives you a good concept of what the track will do from day to night. What it will do later in the race. Where you might get an idea where the groove might move to.”
“That’s why all the Cup drivers, a lot of them run Nationwide Series the day before, so they can get a feel of what the track’s going to do later in the race. So it’s going to be a big help for me, a big learning experience to see what will help us out later in the race.”
The 18-year old racer will also get a big helping hand from his father who happens to be the 1995 World of Outlaws champion and Sprint Cup Series driver, Dave Blaney.
“He’s always been really good at that racetrack (Richmond), so it will be really good being able to talk to him and relate what he feels from what I feel. We can definitely try things that we think will be better that he tells me. So it’s going to be a giant help both ways there.”
He will also be able to turn another racer in the family, his uncle Dale and says that it is a big plus being a third generation race car driver.
“You’ve just got so many people you can ask about what they see and they’ve got the racers intellect. We kind of think alike, all racers kind of think alike. So it’s definitely a big help that I’ve got somebody that thinks like that and they’re really close to me that I can talk to them always. I think from my uncles and my dad I think it’s kind of a hereditary thing, race cars and all that. We definitely think alike. I’ve picked up the instincts and all that stuff from my dad, uncle and grandpa.”
However, the only disadvantage that he sees is not living up to what they’ve already done.
“If anything, that kind of motivates me to make them — maybe to make me be better than they are and to achieve more. So I really see it as kind of motivates me to be just like them or be better.”
In addition to racing in six Nationwide events for Tommy Baldwin Racing in the No. 36 SealWrap Repair Tape Chevrolet beginning next weekend, he is also in the midst of a six race run in the K&N Pro Series wheeling the family-owned DB Racing No. 10 SealWrap Repair/Heavy Duty Industrial Service car.
His first race in that car this season resulted in an impressive runner-up finish at Bristol last month.
The Nationwide Series races he is scheduled to run in are as follows:
April 27th – Richmond International Raceway
May 11th – Darlington Raceway
June 29th – Kentucky Speedway
July 28th – Indianapolis Motor Speedway
August 24th – Bristol Motor Speedway
October 12th – Charlotte Motor Speedway
Ryan feels ready and prepared for next weekend.
“We’ve done a lot of stuff. We ran our normal late models and ran a handful of K&N races and ran a handful of ARCA races and did really good in them. So I think that we’ve taken our time in making sure we’re ready for this Nationwide debut, and hopefully I am, and we’ll see you here in a couple of weeks.”
Just like all young drivers, Ryan will have to gain the respect of the veteran drivers. And that will come from him showing that he belongs on the track with them.
Two of NASCAR’s most successful veteran drivers, Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick have spoken highly of Ryan’s talent.
“The biggest thing with Ryan is his demeanor. I’ve watched him a couple times and I know he’s had good stuff – not great stuff – to race with and like many of us coming up through the ranks, he has done more with less,” said Harvick.
Stewart agrees with him.
“Ryan has a great pedigree – his grandfather, father and uncle are all great race car drivers. He’s been around winners all his life. He’s seen from Day 1 how to do it the right way.”
And that certainly means a lot to him.
“I haven’t really talked to them heading up to Richmond. I’ve just been watching a lot of tapes and trying to learn as much as possible. I’ll be on the prowl, I guess you could say, next week of talking to drivers about what Richmond’s like and what they think of it.”
“Yeah, I really can’t wait for it. I think it will be a really good race, both races I’m in.”
HOORAHS AND WAZZUPS: IT WAS ALL ABOUT THE WIND IN TEXAS AND A ROCK IN NORTH CAROLINA
[media-credit name=”Nigel Kinrade/Autostock” align=”alignright” width=”226″]
[/media-credit]NASCAR’s Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series spent made their semi annual trip to the Texas Motor Speedway to run races that were, frankly, a little light on the action side and that’s putting it in very polite terms. When the strong wind gusts becomes the major story you know it’s going to be a long weekend. Meanwhile in North Carolina, NASCAR returned to “the Rock” in what turned out to be the feel good story of the weekend. With those thoughts in mind, let’s begin with:
HOORAH to Greg Biffle for winning the Samsung Mobile 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. Another HOORAH goes to this driver for that lap 304 beautiful slide job pass on Jimmie Johnson that ultimately became the racing winning move. It marked the “Biff’s” 17 career win but, of greater importance it also eradicated a frustrating 49 race win less streak that dates back to October of 2010. The win also pads Biffle’s Sprint Cup points lead to 19 over Matt Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
HOORAH to Matt Puccia for scoring his first ever win as a Sprint Cup crew chief. Biffle will be the first to tell you that the progress his team has shown so far in 2012 is in direct proportion to the job this new crew chief has been doing. HOORAH to the “Pit Bulls”, the name of Biffle’s pit crew. Their performance on pit road during the Texas race was also a major factor in this win.
HOORAH to Roush Fenway Racing who had an excellent weekend at Texas. The famed racing organization swept both NASCAR events. Driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr gave Roush Fenway their fourth, consecutive, series win in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series event followed by Biffle giving Roush Fenway their ninth NASCAR Sprint Cup win.
*************
WAZZUP with Jimmie Johnson scraping the wall during the final laps of this race while trying to catch Biffle? Actually Johnson was giving it his all to win this race when he sailed a little high in the turn. His Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was strong all night and led a race high 156 laps.
WAZZUP with Rick Hendrick’s custom racing caps being not being distributed? These are the famous hats that commemorates Hendrick Motorsports’ 200th win. Johnson gave his boss win #199 last Fall at the Kansas Speedway. Those hats have been transported from track to track ever since waiting for that big 200th moment. The good news is the fact that the Sprint Cup Series will be racing at Kansas next weekend and hope springs eternal.
A HOORAH for turning chicken salad into chicken do do goes to Hendrick Motorsports driver Jeff Gordon who was understandably frustrated with his car following practice and qualifying at Texas. Despite starting an uncharacteristic 34th in the field Gordon, with some good pit calls, drove his way to a fourth place finish
HOORAH to Hendrick team mate Kasey Kahne who had an outstanding weekend. Kahne deserves the iron man award for running three races in three days at two different race tracks in two different states. Kahne’s excellent weekend began during the Friday night Nationwide Series race when he drove a Turner Motorsports Chevrolet to a solid third place finish. On Saturday night he drove his Hendrick Chevrolet to a seventh place finish in the Cup event. This was huge for this team. Their slow start and horrible racing luck during the still early portion of the 2012 season has been well documented. After the Cup race, Kahne hopped a flight to North Carolina, slept approximately four hours, and then climbed into a Turner Motorsports Chevrolet Truck where he won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut at the Rockingham Speedway. Job well done Mr Kahne.
*************
WAZZUP with the engine woes displayed by the Penske Racing Dodges during the Texas weekend? Penske Driver Brad Keselowski had a devastating weekend that began with the Nationwide Series race where a faulty distributor led to a 35th place finish, 41 laps down. Then during the Cup race, Keselowski’s team was hit by a fuel pick up situation that forced NASCAR officials to order him to leave the track because his car could not maintain minimum race speed. The result was a 36th place finish and a devastating hit in the points. This team has been hampered with fuel pick up problems in the past, most notably at Las Vegas, and, in the days that followed the Texas race, it was revealed that they have been doing some research and development work in this area. Paul Wolfe, Keselowski’s crew chief, probably put it best when he said it was time to get back to basic fundamentals and “it’s time to end the science project.”
WAZZUP with the frustrating Texas weekend experienced by Tony Stewart? It began with a crash during practice and the necessity of rolling out a back out car. Once the green flag fell on the Cup race, Stewart’s car was just plain bad and stayed that way all night long. By the way, this was the same car that Stewart used to win races at Texas and Kansas last year. He wound up finishing 24th, two laps down. During the race there was a “Twitter” message sent that said: “#14 is coming in, (the pits), for fuel, tires and an exorcism on the car.”
WAZZUP with Marcos Ambrose running out of fuel during the final half lap of the race? It deprived the Richard Petty Motorsports driver of a certain top five finish that turned into a 20th place finish.
************
Okay, let’s get to what a lot of you are thinking regarding the NASCAR weekend in Texas: (ZZZsnoreZZZ). WAZZUP with both of these races being so tedious that it actually appeared like a lengthy game of follow the leader? This was totally uncharacteristic for any races we’ve seen at Texas in the past. The final 234 laps were run under green with the only highlight being Greg Biffle aforementioned slide job pass on Jimmie Johnson. Also unexpected was the race only having two caution flags, that took up ten laps, reported to be a track record which in turn led to a high average race speed, 160.575 MPH, also a new record. According to official NASCAR reports, the Samsung Mobile 500 Cup race took three hours and seven minutes to complete. Frankly, it felt like 37 hours.
WAZZUP with the Fox Broadcasting team focusing a live camera on David Reutimann’s car while again bringing up what happened at the April 1st Martinsville race? This, of course, was the incident when Reutimann’s car lost power which brought out a yellow flag that changed the complexion of the race ending. While commenting on this, Fox actually show the video from that incident. Really guys? Martinsville video highlights in the middle of the Texas race?
WAZZUP with the first caution flag of the race being for debris which turned out to be a racing cap blowing across the track? In all fairness, one has to consider the possibility that the strong wind that night in Texas may have sent that cap flying off of a fan’s head and onto the speedway. But it didn’t take very long for the NASCAR theory conspiracists to point out that Sprint Cup drivers keep their sponsor’s race hats in their car so they will have them for post race interviews. Does anyone really think that a Sprint Cup driver would toss a cap out a window for a needed caution flag? Really?
On the topic of strange objects making a surprise appearance, WAZZUP with that plastic bottle of water landing on the track that was totally annihilated by Juan Pablo Montoya’s race car. HOORAH to the Fox camera operator for giving us a beautiful live shot of the bottle getting mashed by Montoya’s left front tire.
WAZZUP with the turn three lights going out, due to a burned out electrical breaker, during the Nationwide Series race? HOORAH to speedway electricians for replacing the breaker in less than ten minutes despite the pressure of being watched by live television cameras. HOORAH to the decision to replace all of those breakers after the race so it wouldn’t happen again during the Cup race the following night.
***********
WAZZUP with Texas sized wind gusts, reported to be as high as 40 MPH at times, becoming a major story line during the race weekend? Talking about breaking wind, consider these examples:
The wind was so strong that drivers complained of muscle aches in their arms from manhandling their cars while trying to drive through the gusts. The wind was so strong Mark Martin actually thought he had a flat tire from all of that sliding around. The wind was so strong crew chiefs couldn’t determine if their cars were loose or just being blown across the track. The wind was so strong it blew an antenna off of the pit box set up for Matt Kenseth. The team went several laps without timing and scoring data on their computers. The wind was so strong King Richard Petty had to leave his famous cowboy hat in his motor coach and wear a racing cap instead. The wind was so strong the speedway flags were standing straight out looking like they had been heavily starched at a local dry cleaner. The wind was so strong that the front grills of the race cars were frequently covered with flying paper debris. This prompted the Fox broadcast team to comment: “a piece of paper worth five cents could damage a $200,000 race car.”
But, when it comes to Texas sized wind stories, the best one of all was the $100 bill that was found plastered on the front grill of Kevin Harvick’s Budweiser Chevrolet. It’s not certain how many laps Benjamin Franklin spent riding with Harvick. This Richard Childress Racing team deserves a HOORAH for donating the bill to the MRO, Motor Racing Outreach Program, which caters to the spiritual needs of the NASCAR community.
On a far more serious weather matter, the community of Arlington-Texas was devastated by tornadoes back on April 1st. A double HOORAH goes to all of the drivers, team members and fans who contributed to a special fund to assist the victims during their time of need.
On the topic of showing some love, HOORAH to driver Marcos Ambrose who donated his time to the Third Annual Hammering For Habitat sponsored by Stanley Tools, Do It Best Corporation and Habitat For Humanity. Ambrose helped build a home for a Fort Worth-Texas based single mom and her four kids. It turned out that NASCAR’s favorite “Aussie” used to be a carpenter before he took up the racing business.
**************
HOORAH to the Rockingham Speedway for a very successful Sunday afternoon that saw the return of NASCAR racing to the famed North Carolina one mile oval. The Good Sam Roadside Assistance 200, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, race was outstanding and well attended by a lot of fans happy to see NASCAR’s return to “The Rock.” The last NASCAR sanctioned event there was back in 2004.
HOORAH to speedway owner Andy Hillenburg who made a very ambitious move by purchasing the Rock back in 2007. He reopened the speedway with regional touring events, such as the ARCA series, and leased the track to film companies and NASCAR teams for test sessions. Hillenburg worked hard to make his investment work and now every one’s saying that the success of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut is a triumph he richly deserves and it could happen to a nicer guy.
HOORAH to the local Rockingham church whose Pastor rescheduled its Sunday morning service to an 8:30 am start so his congregation could get to the race track on time. Now that’s a NASCAR true blue fan.
Graham Rahal Placed on Probation Following Incident with Marco Andretti
[media-credit name=”Sal Sigala Jr.” align=”alignright” width=”301″]
[/media-credit]Following a lap 22 incident during the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, IndyCar officials have placed IZOD IndyCar Series driver Graham Rahal on probation for the next six events for blocking and initiating avoidable contact.
The probation will end following the June 23rd event at Iowa Speedway. If Rahal does not meet necessary improvements, IndyCar may impose further penalties.
On lap 22, Rahal made contact with Marco Andretti, launching Andretti’s car into the air before Andretti made contact with the tire barrier. Andretti was uninjured in the incident.
“Due to the inability of the No. 38 car to continue the race, a review of the on-track actions of Graham Rahal became a post-race issue,” Beaux Barfield,
IndyCar president of competition and IZOD IndyCar Series Race Director, says. “All stewards have reviewed the incident and have decided that the on-track actions of Graham warranted probation because of driving that endangers on-track safety and adversely affects competition.”
Rahal broke two rules in the rule book – Rule 9.3.2 and Rule 9.3.3
Rule 9.3.2 states “a driver must not alter his/her racing line based on the actions of pursuing drivers to inhibit or prevent passing. Blocking will result in a minimum of a black flag “drive through” penalty.”
Rule 9.3.3 states “a competitor must not initiate or attempt to initiate avoidable contact that results in the interruption of another competitor’s lap time or track position.”
Following the incident, Andretti called Rahal out on the block.
“There’s a difference between blocking and chopping and that’s chopping,” he said following the wreck. “I was lucky I didn’t get upside down; I could’ve been killed.”
Rahal’s response was, “I was just trying to stay underneath (Scott) Dixon and obviously I surprised Marco. He wasn’t going to make the corner no matter what. If he stayed beside me, he was going to overshoot it. It’s just frustrating. The car felt really strong.”
The probation penalty may be protested pursuant to the rulebook.
