Strong Charlotte Run For Blaney Cut Short By Engine Failure

Ryan Blaney and the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion didn’t make it all the way to the end of Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. An engine problem put him out of the race at Lap 283 of 400 after he’d run in the top 15 for most of the night. He was credited with a 42nd-place finish.

But overall, the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team had plenty to be proud of at the conclusion of the biggest weekend in motorsports.

The team got to honor the late Marine Cpl. Jon Bowling, a war hero from the Wood Brothers’ hometown of Stuart, Va.

The team’s longtime crew chief and NASCAR Hall of Fame member Leonard Wood was at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where he helped celebrate an Indianapolis 500 victory by fellow NASCAR Ford team owner Roger Penske.

And at Charlotte, Blaney and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team turned in a performance that has people within the team and across the NASCAR landscape looking for better days ahead for the No. 21 Ford Fusion.

Blaney said his Motorcraft/Quick Lane team, led by crew chief Jeremy Bullins, had a great night on pit road, with every pit stop in the 11-second range and each adjustment making the car a bit faster.

“They work so hard, and they gave me a good piece and we were getting it better all night,” Blaney said. “I would have really liked to see where we ended up, but I’m excited for our next outing in this thing.”

“We can always look at the positives and say we had a good run going. Everyone is working really well together on this team, so we just need to get running a little bit more and I think we’ll be OK.”  

The rookie Blaney also got a chance to experience racing on an intermediate track against the best drivers in the business as he was in the lead pack from the drop of the green flag until his engine expired.

“Racing around some really good guys all night, top-fifteen all night, you really learn a lot of things, and I definitely can apply that,” he said.

Team owner Eddie Wood said he was pleased that the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team was able to recognize Bowling as part of NASCAR’s 600 Miles of Remembrance. The Motorcraft/Quick Lane Fusion carried Bowling’s name in the spot on the windshield that usually carries the driver’s name. Bowling, a close friend of the Wood family, died Jan. 26, 2005, at age 23 in the Al Anbra Province of Iraq when a rocket-propelled grenade struck his Humvee. He was serving with the Marine Corps Reserve’s 4th Combat Engineer Battallion of the 4th Marine Division.

“His family was there with us all afternoon,” Wood said. “They went to the driver’s meeting and were on the pit box with us as long as we were in the race.”

“That’s what this weekend was all about.”

Wood Brother Racing PR