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Ryan Blaney

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Ryan Blaney
Blaney in 2015
Born (1993-12-31) December 31, 1993 (age 30)
Cortland, Ohio, U.S.
Achievements2010 CRA Southern Six-Pack Champion
2011 PASS South Champion
Awards2013 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Rookie of the Year
2014 Camping World Truck Series Most Popular Driver
NASCAR Cup Series career
20 races run over 3 years
Car no., teamNo. 21 (Wood Brothers Racing)
2015 position52nd
Best finish52nd (2015)
First race2014 5-hour Energy 400 (Kansas)
Last race2024 Quaker State 400 (Atlanta)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 2 0
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
43 races run over 4 years
Car no., teamNo. 22 (Team Penske)
2015 position22nd
Best finish22nd (2015)
First race2012 Virginia 529 College Savings 250 (Richmond)
Last race2015 Ford EcoBoost 300 (Homestead)
First win2013 Kentucky 300 (Kentucky)
Last win2015 VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300 (Kentucky)
Wins Top tens Poles
4 34 1
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career
58 races run over 4 years
2015 position81st
Best finish2nd (2014)
First race2012 UNOH 200 (Bristol)
Last race2015 WinStar World Casino & Resort 350 (Texas)
First win2012 American Ethanol 200 (Iowa)
Last win2015 UNOH 200 (Bristol)
Wins Top tens Poles
4 39 5
Statistics current as of February 28, 2016.

Ryan Blaney (born December 31, 1993) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, driving the No. 21 Ford Fusion for Wood Brothers Racing, and part-time in the Xfinity Series, driving the No. 22 Ford Mustang for Team Penske. He is the son of NASCAR driver Dave Blaney.

Racing career

Blaney's 2011 ARCA car at IRP
Blaney's 2011 PASS car at North Wilkesboro
Blaney's 2013 truck at Rockingham

A third generation racer and son of Sprint Cup Series driver Dave Blaney,[1] Blaney started his racing career in quarter midget racing, winning his first race at age 9;[2][3] he also competed, and won, in Bandolero cars at a young age.[4] Moving up to Legends cars at age 12, Blaney won the Lowe's Motor Speedway Young Lion’s Winter Heat Point Championship, as well as in three divisions of the Carolina Fall Nationals in quarter midgets.[2]

At age 14, Blaney debuted in late model racing at Orange County Speedway, while in 2009, at age 15, he began competing in the Pro All Stars Series (PASS)-sanctioned South Super Late Model Series, finishing second in points and winning the series' Rookie of the Year award; he finished third in the PASS national points as well. In addition, he won the Eastern Grand Nationals quarter midget event in Huntsville, Alabama.[2]

Continuing to compete in the PASS South Super Late Model Series in 2010, Blaney scored his first career win in the series at Dillon Motor Speedway, adding wins at Greenville-Pickens Speedway and Newport Speedway on his way to a second consecutive second-place finish in the PASS South championship standings.[2] Blaney also competed in the Champion Racing Association (CRA)-sanctioned Southern Six Pack series, winning the series championship for 2010.[3] Returning to the PASS South Super Late Model Series in 2011, Blaney won two races in the series, at Dillon Motor Speedway and Ace Speedway, winning the series championship.[2][5] He also made his debuts in the ARCA Racing Series and NASCAR K&N Pro Series West and East in 2011, scoring top ten finishes in every start in the three series;[5] he won his first career NASCAR race in the K&N Pro Series West season finale at Phoenix International Raceway,[6] winning by over two seconds.[7]

For 2012, Blaney, who had won praise from Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick for his driving skills,[8] returned to the K&N Pro Series East, running six races for family-owned DB Racing, driving the No. 10,[9] as well as to the PASS Super Late Model Series in the Carswell Motorsports No. 98.[10] In addition, he signed with Tommy Baldwin Racing to compete in six NASCAR Nationwide Series races, driving the No. 36 SealWrap Chevrolet,[1][11] starting at Richmond International Raceway in April.[4] Ryan qualified in the top ten in his debut at Richmond International Raceway, and finished seventh in the race.[12]

In July 2012, Blaney announced that he had signed a contract to drive for Penske Racing a minimum of three races in the 2012 Nationwide Series season, starting at Iowa Speedway in August.[13] He also ran selected races in the Camping World Truck Series for Brad Keselowski Racing,[14] finishing sixth in his debut in the series at Bristol Motor Speedway.[15] Blaney won his first career race in the Truck Series on September 15, 2012, at Iowa Speedway; at the time he was the youngest winner in Truck Series history at 18 years, 8 months and 15 days. The previous record was 20 years, 18 days set by Kyle Busch in 2005.[16][N 1]

Blaney returned to the Camping World Truck Series in 2013, driving the full schedule for Brad Keselowski Racing and competing for the series' Rookie of the Year award.[18] Blaney won his first career pole in the series at Kentucky Speedway in June,[19] then in August won his second career Truck Series race at Pocono Raceway.[20] Blaney also competed in the Nationwide Series at Iowa Speedway in June, substituting for Joey Logano after a rainout created a schedule conflict; Blaney finished ninth in the event.[21] Blaney competed in a second Nationwide Series race in 2013, at Kentucky Speedway on September 21, and led 96 of the race's 200 laps to win his first career race in the series, beating Austin Dillon and Matt Crafton.[22] Blaney was the only race winner in the 2013 Nationwide season to not have any Sprint Cup experience.[23]

In January 2014, Blaney announced that in addition to a full Camping World Truck Series schedule with BKR, he would be running fifteen Nationwide Series and two Sprint Cup Series races for Team Penske during the year.[24] He made his debut at Kansas Speedway, finishing 27th. In August, it was announced that Blaney would be running in the Nationwide Series for Penske in 2015, and would also run twenty Sprint Cup Series races for Wood Brothers Racing in the No. 21 Ford during the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.[25]

Blaney drove the #29 truck full-time for Brad Keselowski Racing. He had many top tens but failed to win in the spring. However his year's turning point was at Dover in late May 2014 when he came up short to Kyle Busch who beat him by 0.5 (one car length) seconds for the win. After the race Blaney was one of the drivers who said that because Kyle was winning a lot in the truck series, that the Cup series drivers should no longer race in any division besides the Cup series.

Blaney's 2015 Xfinity car at Road America

Blaney won his second career Nationwide race in August 2014 at Bristol Motor Speedway, beating Kyle Busch in a green-white-checkered finish. The next week, Blaney won his first Truck race of 2014 in spectacular fashion at Ron Fellows' own Canadian Tire Motorsports Park raceway, edging German Quiroga by 0.49 seconds in a photo-finish.

In 2015, Blaney began his Xfinity Series schedule at Las Vegas in the Boyd Gaming 300. After leading 2 laps, Blaney was briefly in contention for the win. After spinning out fellow driver Erik Jones late in the race, Blaney restarted the final restart in 8th place. Despite this, he drove from 8th to second in the final 21 laps. Though he caught up to race leader Austin Dillon with 3 laps to go, Blaney was unable to force his way by Dillon. Blaney finished second to Dillon by a 3 car-length winning difference.

In the Cup Series, Blaney performed well for a rookie in the #21 for the Wood Brothers team. He picked up his first top ten at Talladega in the Geico 500, running as high as second and finishing 4th. He didn't qualify for three races due to rainouts. He nearly won at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the Xfinity race, finishing 2nd to Kyle Busch after being passed on the final lap. He won at Iowa and nearly won at Road America in his debut at the track. He again won at the Kentucky standalone race in September beating Ty Dillon on a late race restart. Blaney got his second top 10 of his career in Sprint Cup at Kansas for the Hollywood Casino 400 finishing 7th. Blaney will begin competing full-time in the Cup Series in 2016 with the Wood Brothers.[26]

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Sprint Cup Series

Daytona 500
Year Team Manufacturer Start Finish
2015 Wood Brothers Racing Ford 12 39
2016 7 19

Xfinity Series

Camping World Truck Series

* Season still in progress
1 Ineligible for series points
† In 2012 Blaney switched from Nationwide to Truck Series points at Atlanta Motor Speedway in August.

References

Notes
  1. ^ The current youngest NASCAR national touring series winner is Cole Custer, winning at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September 2014 at 16 years, 7 months, and 28 days.[17]
Citations
  1. ^ a b McLain, Mike (February 6, 2012). "Young Blaney coming up in a hurry". Tribune Chronicle. Warren, Ohio. Retrieved 2012-02-14.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Getting to Know Ryan Blaney". Ryan Blaney official website. Retrieved 2012-02-14.
  3. ^ a b "Ryan Blaney Set to Make ARCA Debut for Venturini". Automobile Racing Club of America. June 23, 2011. Retrieved 2012-02-14.
  4. ^ a b Utter, Jim (March 17, 2012). "Dave Blaney's son, Ryan, making name". The Charlotte Observer. Charlotte, North Carolina. Retrieved 2012-03-18.
  5. ^ a b Moody, Dave (January 18, 2012). "Ryan Blaney Inks Nationwide Schedule With TBR". Sirius-Speedway.com. Sirius/XM NASCAR Radio. Retrieved 2012-02-14.
  6. ^ Bassetti, John (January 30, 2012). "Blaney's 2012 up in the air". Youngstown Vindicator. Youngstown, Ohio. Retrieved 2012-02-14.
  7. ^ "Blaney Best in Phoenix K&N Race". Motor Racing Network. November 12, 2011. Retrieved 2012-02-14.
  8. ^ Utter, Jim (August 21, 2012). "Blaney going full speed ahead". The Charlotte Observer. Charlotte, NC. Retrieved 2012-08-28.
  9. ^ "NASCAR: Tommy Baldwin Racing signs 18-year-old Ryan Blaney to run six Nationwide races". AutoWeek. January 18, 2012. Retrieved 2012-02-14.
  10. ^ "Ryan Blaney to Drive Carswell Motorsports 98 Super Late Model in 2012". Ryan Blaney official site. March 7, 2012. Retrieved 2012-04-13.
  11. ^ Pockrass, Bob (January 19, 2012). "Dave Blaney's son, Ryan, to run six Nationwide races for Tommy Baldwin Racing". SceneDaily.com. The Sporting News. Retrieved 2012-02-14.
  12. ^ Bassetti, John. "Ryan Blaney debuts 7th in Nationwide competition". Youngstown Vindicator. Youngstown, OH. Retrieved 2012-04-28.
  13. ^ Pistone, Pete (July 17, 2012). "Ryan Blaney joins Penske Nationwide team". Eye on NASCAR. CBS Sports. Retrieved 2012-07-17.
  14. ^ Pistone, Pete (August 9, 2012). "Ryan Blaney joins Brad Keselowski's Truck Series team". Eye on NASCAR. CBS Sports. Retrieved 2012-08-09.
  15. ^ "Ryan Blaney Makes Impressive Debut". Brad Keselowski Racing. August 23, 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-28.
  16. ^ "Blaney becomes Truck Series' youngest winner". NASCAR.com. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  17. ^ "16-year-old Cole Custer becomes youngest to win Truck Series race". Sporting News. September 20, 2014. Retrieved 2014-09-20.
  18. ^ Pope, Thomas (April 7, 2013). "Rising star Ryan Blaney coming to Rockingham trucks race". The Fayetteville Observer. Fayetteville, NC. Retrieved 2013-04-21.
  19. ^ "Blaney wins pole for UNOH 225 at Kentucky". Yahoo! Sports. June 27, 2013. Retrieved 2013-09-14.
  20. ^ "Ryan Blaney wins Truck race at Pocono on dad's advice". USA Today. McLean, VA. August 3, 2013. Retrieved 2013-09-14.
  21. ^ Norman, Brad (June 11, 2013). "Logano sub Blaney welcomed weekend rain". NASCAR.com. Retrieved 2013-09-14.
  22. ^ "19-year-old Ryan Blaney wins Kentucky Nationwide race". USA Today. September 21, 2013. Retrieved 2013-09-22.
  23. ^ Pennell, Jay (February 28, 2014). "Do Nationwide regulars want Cup drivers' participation limited?". Foxsports.com. Retrieved 2014-02-28.
  24. ^ "Ryan Blaney will make Sprint Cup debut this season for Team Penske". Fox Sports. January 29, 2014. Retrieved 2014-01-29.
  25. ^ Owens, Jeff (August 14, 2014). "Wood Brothers hire Ryan Blaney, form alliance with Penske". Sporting News. Retrieved 2014-08-14.
  26. ^ Bruce, Kenny (November 20, 2015). "WOOD BROTHERS GOING FULL TIME IN 2016". NASCAR. Retrieved November 20, 2015.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ryan Blaney.
Achievements
Preceded by NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Rookie of the Year
2013 		Succeeded by

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