News

THE RACE

O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile high-banked speedway, Ft. Worth, Texas)
Friday, April 4, 2014

THE RESULTS

The No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang
Driver: Ryan Blaney
Starting Position: 9
Finish Position: 8
Owner's Points Position: 2

THE RACE REVIEW
    
· Ryan Blaney qualified the No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang in the ninth position for Friday night’s NASCAR Nationwide Series event at Texas Motor Speedway

· As the race went green, Blaney thought he would have something for the other cars, saying the Discount Tire Mustang started tight but was coming around.  However, just a few laps later, the car got extremely loose and Blaney found himself just trying to hold on until the first round of pit stops.

· Running a different tire this weekend, several teams had problems finding the proper setup as track conditions continued to change.  Things were no different for Blaney.  For several laps, the car would be tight, then work towards snapping loose before getting tight again by the end of a run.

· Crew chief Jeremy Bullins made several big changes throughout the night.  For several laps, Blaney would continue to struggle, then turn into the fastest car on the track.

· Inconsistency with the car’s handling plagued Blaney, who ran as high as fifth and as low as ninth during the 200-lap event.

· As the race wound down, Blaney found himself seventh on a late restart.  He slipped one spot back to eighth as the checkers flew.

· The No. 22 Team Penske Mustang continues to sit second in the NNS Owners’ Championship, just 14 points behind the No. 54 of Joe Gibbs Racing.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING

RYAN BLANEY, NO. 22 DISCOUNT TIRE FORD MUSTANG

IT SEEMED LIKE YOU GUYS STRUGGLED WITH HANDLING ALL NIGHT LONG.  WHAT DO YOU THINK THE PROBLEM WAS?

“I don’t know.  It was frustrating out there tonight.  We weren’t good all night.  Every change we made wouldn’t help it or over-adjusted the problem that we had.  I don’t know what was going on.  I don’t know if it was the tires or the track that was changing a lot.  It’s confusing to me how it would start off doing one thing and then at the end of the run it was doing something completely different.  We would be loose, then get tight or start out tight and then get loose.  And I couldn’t run the high line at all.  I was married to the bottom.  If I was off the bottom, I was junk and way too loose.  That’s not what we wanted tonight.  I thought we had a better car than that.  We just couldn’t get the handle of it out there. We’ll go back and work on it and hopefully be better here for the fall.”