NASCAR XFINITY Series Race Report

August 22, 2015


Ryan Blaney and the No. 22 Discount Tire team finished the Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway in the 22nd position after Blaney's Ford Mustang had two loose rear wheels, forcing a green-flag pit stop just laps from the end of the event.

Blaney started the race from the sixth position, but quickly moved his Mustang into the top five.  During a long green-flag run, Blaney communicated his car was loose and had no rear grip, a condition he would fight most of the night. Blaney was able to race his way into the fourth position, but was still fighting a loose condition, keeping him from making a run at the top spot. With 79 laps to go, Blaney reported he felt something rubbing in the rear of the car.

As the race was coming to a close, he communicated that rub was getting worse and something may have broken on the car. Blaney was forced to pit and the team discovered Blaney's Ford had a loose right rear wheel. After Blaney returned to the racetrack, he reported the car was still shanking and came back down pit road under green and discovered a loose left rear wheel. Blaney would return to the track with five laps to go in the 24th position, five laps down. Blaney advanced two positions to 22nd as the checkers flew.  The disappointing finish saw the No. 22 team lose a little ground in the NASCAR NXFINITY Series Owners' Championship lead, now 79 points up on the No. 60 of Roush-Fenway Racing.
 
Quote:  "The race just didn't play in our favor. We didn't have the fastest car in the beginning of the race, but we had a good car that ran in the top five and we kept working on it. It's just disappointing when mistakes like that keep you from a good finish and winning the Dash4Cash. I just want to thank Ford and Discount Tire.  I wish we could have gotten a good finish for them tonight, but looking forward to tomorrow and running 500 more laps."