News

Track:  Homestead-Miami Speedway
Race:   Ford EcoBoot 300    
Date:   November 21, 2015

No. 22 Hertz Ford Mustang – Ryan Blaney

Start:  5th
Finish: 5th
Status: Running
Laps Completed:  200/200
Laps Led:   0
Owners' Points Position (ahead of second place): 1st (+117) (2015 NASCAR XFINITY Series Owners' Champions)
 
Recap: Ryan Blaney and the No. 22 Hertz Ford team started and finished the Ford EcoBoost 300 in the fifth position and celebrated their third-consecutive NASCAR XFINITY Series Owners' Championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday afternoon. The No. 22 Hertz team started the race from the fifth position after a rain shower canceled the third round of qualifying.  Following the drop of the green flag, the Hertz Mustang was a little free on corner entry and lacked rear grip. During a long-green flag run in the middle portion of the race, the Hertz Mustang fell one lap down to the leader, despite running in the sixth position. Blaney raced his way to the free pass position and was able to rejoin the lead lap cars. Blaney would remain in the top-six as the race continued, still battling an ill-handling Mustang. The race saw its last caution on lap 180, where Blaney would restart from the fourth position. Once the race resumed, Blaney drove his way to the second position, battling the race leader with less than 20 laps remaining. Once again on the long run, Blaney's Ford Mustang became loose on exit, losing speed and eventually causing him to fall back to fifth when the checkered flag flew. The fifth-place finish was Blaney's ninth top-five finish of the 2015 season in just 13 NASCAR XFINITY Series starts. The No. 22 team also clinched their third-straight NXS Owners' Championship, becoming the first car to earn three-straight titles.

Quote: "It was a long one for sure.  We didn't fire off the way we wanted to, but we got better and better throughout the night.  At the end, I thought that was when we were our best.  You can't be too upset at that.  Greg Erwin did a great job of getting us better and I can't thank the whole team enough for that.  They had awesome pit stops on pit road.  I think we gained a few spots every stop, so I can't thank them enough for that.  I really have to thank Hertz and Discount Tire for what they do for us.  It's cool to get a third owner's championship in a row and really privileged to have Roger Penske and everybody for letting me drive."