Team Penske's Ryan Blaney certainly seemed to enjoy racing in yesterday's FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Raceway. As the regular 2022 NASCAR Cup Series campaign draws to a close in a few weeks' time, Blaney is one of the drivers at risk of not making it into the playoffs. The 28-year-old managed to finish in the top-five in the 400-mile-long race, however, he has managed to stay clear of a points-awarding victory this season.
The #12 Menards Ford Mustang driver spoke on how he performed on the 1.5-mile-long oval in Brooklyn, Michigan, saying:
“We were terrible all day. We ran 20th all day long and just struggled a lot and worked on it a ton and got a little bit better and better there and ended up with a decent finish out of it. It was big gains from where we started.”
The Hartford Township, Ohio native was also aware of the fact that Kevin Harvick managed to visit Victory Lane on a day where the Toyotas had the upper hand on the field. He spoke about his playoff aspirations being affected by Harvick's win and said:
“I have no idea. We’ll see. We’ll race the 19, obviously, for points and try to win the race. We’ll try to do both. It’s a shame that another car won. I’m happy for Ford for winning, but we didn’t need the 4 car to win. We’ll just try to win the next few weeks and battle the 19 in points. It’ll be exciting, that’s for sure, so hopefully we can do it.”
Ryan Blaney looks forward to racing at Richmond Raceway next weekend
Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney had his eyes set on next weekend's Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond Raceway as soon as he finished racing in Michigan yesterday.
The 28-year-old, who is hopeful of making it into the playoffs with a strong performance towards the end of the regular season, spoke about the challenges of Richmond Raceway. He said:
“It’s always a challenge every single week you go. We sat on the pole and won the first stage at Richmond in the spring, so that was nice. We just tried to build off of that and what did we need later in the race to try to stay up there, so hopefully those things apply and we can turn around and make it even better and contend. That’s all you can do.”
Catch Ryan Blaney next weekend as NASCAR goes live from Richmond Raceway on Sunday for the Fedreated Auto Parts 400.