News

THE RACE

Get To Know Newton 250 at Iowa Speedway (0.875-mile speedway, Newton, IA)
Sunday, May 18, 2014

THE RESULTS

The No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang
Driiver: Ryan Blaney
Starting Position: 1
Finish Position: 2
Owner's Points Position: 2

THE RACE REVIEW
    
· Making his fifth start of the season, Ryan Blaney qualified the No. 22 Discount Tire Ford on the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) race at Iowa Speedway.  It marked Blaney’s first NNS pole in just 21-career starts.

· As the race started, Blaney settled into position and logged laps in second place behind race leader Sam Hornish Jr.

· Blaney radioed to the team that his Discount Tire Ford Mustang was loose in and off the corners. When the caution flew on lap 40, Crew Chief Jeremy Bullins called for a track bar and wedge adjustments to fix Blaney’s loose handling race car.

· The adjustments tightened Blaney’s car in the corner. As a result, during long runs, Blaney was running the fastest laps on the track and eventually was able to pass the race leader on lap 90.

· With a car that was loose in and tight off, the Discount Tire crew got another opportunity to adjust Blaney’s Mustang in the middle portion of the race, making more significant adjustments.

· Blaney would restart the race from first and would run the fastest times lap after lap during a lengthy green flag run.

· With 30 laps to go, the caution came out again.  On the ensuing restart, Hornish would get the jump on Blaney and the 20-year-old would fall into second once again.  As the checkered flew, Blaney would settle for second, his best NNS finish so far this season.

· Blaney would lead the race on four different occasions for a total of 80 laps on the day.

· Blaney has now finished in the top-10 in four of his five 2014 NNS events.

· The No. 22 Team Penske Mustang jumped to second in the NNS Owners’ point standings, just 43 points behind the leader.
    

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING

RYAN BLANEY, NO. 22 DISCOUNT TIRE FORD MUSTANG

WHAT WERE YOU THINKING WHEN THE CAUTION CAME OUT WITH 30 LAPS TO GO?

"I felt like if we had maybe 15 more laps, I might have been able to get to him (Hornish, Jr.), but it would be tough to get around him.  We were really good on the long runs. Probably the best car out here on the long runs.  We just needed to have a little more short-run speed and we might have had something."

BEEN A TOUGH COUPLE OF WEEKS.  DOES THIS MAKE UP FOR IT?

"Ending up in Victory Lane sure would have made up for a lot. But we came out here and ran really well and showed we were one of the best cars for sure. That was the goal – to come out here and try and win the race and be competitive and run up front.  It was really cool to get my first Nationwide Series pole and to lead the laps that we did.  The guys in the pits did a great job today and everyone worked hard all weekend long, especially not getting any practice on Friday. Just wish we could have had one more spot there at the end.”