News

THE RACE

Virginia529 College Savings 250
Richmond International Raceway
Friday, September 5, 2014

THE RESULTS

No. 22 Hertz Ford Mustang
Driver: Ryan Blaney
Starting Position: 2
Finish Position: 4
Owners' Points Position: 1

THE RACE REVIEW

· Ryan Blaney qualified the No. 22 Hertz Ford Mustang in the second position during Friday afternoon’s qualifying session.  Rain interrupted the qualifying session on two different occasions, forcing NASCAR to limit knockout qualifying to just one session.

· When the race went green, Blaney dropped in behind race leader Kyle Busch and began to put distance between he and the third place car of Chase Elliott.

· Blaney rode in the second position for the first 160 laps, chasing down Busch while proving he had the second-best car halfway through the event.

· The Hertz Ford was loose on entry and tight in the center which caused Blaney to lose time to Busch.  Despite the ill-handling issues, the 20-year-old was able to hold onto second until lap 162 when he eventually fell back to third.

· After the second round of pit stops, Blaney dropped back to fourth and rode there while still complaining off a loose-tight-loose condition.

· On lap 228, during the final pit stops of the race, the Hertz crew had an issue on the right rear and Blaney came out in the sixth position.

· With less than 20 laps to go, Blaney made a charge back towards the front, getting up to fourth and chasing down third before the checkers flew.

· The top-five finish allowed the No. 22 Team Penske group to hold onto the lead in the NASCAR Nationwide Series Owners’ Championship.   They hold an 18-point lead over the No. 54 of Joe Gibbs Racing.
    

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING

RYAN BLANEY, NO. 22 HERTZ FORD MUSTANG

YOU LOOKED TO HAVE THE SECOND BEST CAR OUT THERE TONIGHT BUT DIDN’T HAVE THE TRACK POSITION LATE.  DID YOU HAVE ANYTHING FOR THE 54?

“We were looking for grip all night and just didn’t really quite have what the 54 had. I thought in the beginning we were okay, but the track went away from us a little bit there. We weren’t bad at the end. I thought if we could have maintained our spot on pit road – if we would have restarted where we pitted – we could have finished second. I think that is where we were tonight.  We were a second-place car.  We didn’t have anything for the 54.  I feel like in traffic, we could run him down a little bit.  But he was just too good early in the run and he could stretch out his lead.  By the time things equaled out, he was too far ahead of us to be able to catch him.  Not a bad showing for this Hertz Ford Mustang. I am happy to be back in for Chicago and we will see what we can do.”