DARLINGTON, S.C. — Ryan Blaney has built some momentum in the early going of the NASCAR Cup Series season, with top-10 finishes in four of the last five races and a victory at Phoenix Raceway already in the bank. Heading into one of his best tracks and a week off after that, however, his No. 12 Team Penske group has some areas of improvement to smooth out on pit road.
“It’s something we’ve gotta work on,” Blaney said.
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A resilient rally lifted Blaney to a third-place result in Sunday’s Goodyear 400, marking the best finish of his Cup Series career at rugged Darlington Raceway. He earned the last spot on the podium with a low-line move around Chase Briscoe with 12 laps remaining in the 293-lap event, but couldn’t muster enough from his No. 12 Ford to challenge race winner Tyler Reddick or runner-up Brad Keselowski.
RELATED: Goodyear 400 results | At-track photos: Darlington
“Proud of the fight back to run third,” Blaney said. “I thought our car was pretty good, just got set back too many times, and it was hard to make it back up. But yeah, proud of our effort. Made gains on it all day, so that’s good. So I was third and Austin (Cindric) was fifth, so a good showing for the Penske cars and yeah, proud of the comeback.”
Those setbacks that necessitated the series of comebacks were a source of angst from the early going. Blaney started seventh but maneuvered to third place at the end of Stage 1, but during the caution period, the 32-year-old driver radioed his crew: “I think I have a loose wheel, left rear.” The team remedied the issue by stopping for a tighten-up in teammate Cindric’s pit stall, but the extra time and ensuing penalty left Blaney 20th for the Stage 2 start.
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“C’mon, guys,” Blaney told his crew on the team radio. “We’ve gotta be clean on that.”
Blaney regained some of that ground to 12th by the end of Stage 2, but another pair of issues emerged. At the Stage 2 break, Blaney rear-ended Daniel Suárez’s No. 7 Chevrolet after a traffic jam on pit entry, but the impact’s net effect was minimal. “I don’t know what the stack-up was,” Blaney said. “I nailed the 7.”
No. 12 crew chief Jonathan Hassler told Blaney that he intended to pit just once more, splitting the final stage into two runs of roughly 50 laps each. When Riley Herbst nosed into the inside wall shortly after the restart, it juggled the strategy plans. Blaney entered pit road 10th, but slightly sluggish service on the left side cost him precious time. Blaney lined up 20th for the restart after six teams stayed out on the track.
“I guess we’re good here,” the No. 12 team radio indicated, putting to rest the initial thought that a wheel wasn’t fully tight. “Far from good, man,” Blaney replied on the radio. “Far from (expletive) good.” Blaney picked off plenty of spots in the run to the checkered flag that followed, but unlike Phoenix — where the No. 12 won despite another instance of pit-trouble flare-up — he came up just short of Victory Lane.
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“We had some issues on pit road that kind of set us back,” Hassler told NASCAR.com. “Honestly, I think our car got a little bit better there in the third stage, kind of once we got back in the traffic. I thought honestly, that was probably the best we’ve done all day. So we were able to kind of work forward and get back to where I thought we kind of were capable of running most of the day. I don’t think we had anything for the 45 (Reddick). He was something pretty special, but I thought we could race with about the rest of them.”
Blaney moved up one spot to second in the Cup Series standings, a whopping 95 points behind Reddick, who has assembled four wins in six races. Next on the schedule is Martinsville Speedway, where Blaney has two recent wins and a splendid 8.2 average finish in 20 career starts.
MORE: Cup Series standings | Race Rewind: Darlington
Blaney offered a solid review for Darlington’s racing under a new rules package, which blended adjustments in horsepower, aerodynamics and tires. The configuration placed an emphasis on tire management and handling, and Blaney was among those with positive feedback.
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“It’s a handful,” Blaney said. “I mean, you could (expletive) the bed quickly if you were kind of rough on your stuff, which was good. So that part was good — tons of falloff. I think you saw guys kind of get too much early, and then they were done. Very rarely in my Cup career that I’ve just let guys go, whether it’s on restarts or green-flag runs and say to myself, ‘I’m gonna see you in about 20 (laps).’ And that was kind of the way it went today, so I think it was good. So yeah, looking forward to running it at more places that are a little bit bigger.”
Hassler offered his own kudos after watching the race play out from atop the pit box.
“It’s definitely a lot of work, which is fine,” Hassler said. “But yeah, a lot of changes between aero package, engine, tire being different, but that’s why we do it. We enjoy the challenge and want to come out and outwork the others. So yeah, I’m all good with it, and so if the drivers like it, and if there’s more tire wear, more falloff, more variability, I think that’s good for the sport.”
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