News

Track: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Race: Lilly Diabetes 250
Date: July 25, 2015

No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang – Ryan Blaney

Start:  11th
Finish: 2nd
Status: Running
Laps Completed:  100/100
Laps Led:   24
Owners’ Points Position:  1st (+48)
 
Recap:  Ryan Blaney and the No. 22 Discount Tire team finished second in the Lilly Diabetes 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday afternoon,  losing the race lead on the last lap to eventual winner Kyle Busch. Blaney started  from the 11th position, but quickly moved his Ford Mustang into the top-10. With the new aero package that debuted for the NASCAR Xfinity Series cars this weekend, Blaney reported to his team the Discount Tire Ford was good, just couldn’t pass other cars in dirty air. Blaney fell back to 13th after the second round of pit stops due to a different pit strategy, but was able to quickly move up to the seventh position after racing resumed. With teams on different pit strategies, Blaney quickly found himself in the second position, where he would remain until late in the race. Blaney was able to capture the race lead for the first time with 25 laps to go following a great restart, extending his lead to nearly a second over Busch. Once Blaney caught lapped traffic, Busch was able to catch the Discount Tire Mustang. After taking the white flag, Blaney overdrove his Mustang into turn two, allowing Busch to get a good run down the backstretch and pass Blaney for the race lead coming to the checkers.  The second-place finish extended the No. 22 Discount Tire team’s lead to 48 points  in the Xfinity Series Owners’ point standings.
 
Quote:  "It's my fault, obviously.  I screwed up.  This team doesn't deserve that.  I dropped the ball for them today and I take full responsibility.  It's all my fault. I got tight and I got too deep and didn't get off the long corner (the last lap).  It was my fault.  This Discount Tire team doesn’t deserve that and I threw it away.  It’s a pretty bad feeling to throw one away here at the Brickyard. There was no pressure for 24 laps and the last one I just made a mistake."