News

THE RACE

O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge
Texas Motor Speedway
Saturday, November 1, 2014

THE RESULTS

The No. 12 Snap-on Ford
Driver: Ryan Blaney
Starting Position: 5
Finish Position: 3

THE RACE REVIEW

· Ryan Blaney and the No. 12 Snap-on Ford team started Saturday’s 200-lap event at Texas Motor Speedway from fifth position.

· As the race began, Blaney moved into the fourth position on the opening lap. By lap seven, he had raced his way up to third. After an early caution, Blaney restarted third behind leader and teammate Joey Logano. The two worked together to pull away from the rest of the field with Logano leading and Blaney second.

· Blaney eventually slipped back to third as his Ford Mustang became too free on corner entry and also lost overall grip on the long run.

· Crew chief Greg Erwin made multiple adjustments to the Ford Mustang to keep up with the changing track conditions over the course of the 300-mile event, including track bar and air pressure adjustments.

· The 20-year-old driver held a steady presence in the top-five the rest of the afternoon and went on to finish third.

· The strong result marks Blaney’s third top-five this year driving the No. 12 Team Penske Ford and his ninth top-five finish overall in just 13 races.  Blaney has not finished lower than fourth in his last three starts.

· Blaney is scheduled drive the No. 12 Team Penske Ford at the season ending NASCAR Nationwide Series race in Homestead in two weeks’ time.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING

RYAN BLANEY, NO. 12 SNAP-ON FORD

YOU HAD A SOLID DAY AND LOOKED STRONG AT THE END OF THE RACE. TELL US ABOUT YOUR DAY?

“We were a lot better on long runs and we were tracking those guys down at the end. It is a shame we had to pit again. I just took off too tight there at the end to be able to run with them and run them down. I can’t say enough about these guys at Team Penske. It is a group of guys led by Greg Erwin who comes out three or four times a year to call shots at the race track, and you can see the progress. We are getting better. We finished fifth at Kentucky and then fourth and now third. I wish we had two more. They did a great job, and I am happy to have Snap-On on it and I am just really proud of these guys. It is a pretty good day; we just needed more in our short run speed.”