Ryan Blaney Charlotte Truck Post-Race Report

Ryan Blaney (@RyanBlaney22), driver of the Brad Keselowski Racing (@TeamBKR) No. 29 Cooper Standard Ford F-Series, made his first career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) start at Charlotte Motor Speedway Friday night, after posting a 9th place qualifying effort earlier in the day.

Blaney got off to a solid start staying around the top 10 before the first caution flew of the evening. Crew chief, Doug Randolph, brought Blaney to pit road for three adjustments up on the track bar, four tires and fuel – after Blaney had been complaining of a very tight truck.  

After the No. 18 wrecked and brought out caution number three on lap 73, Randolph, brought Blaney back to pit road for four tires, fuel and two adjustments up on the track bar, since the previous three track bar adjustment stop had tightened up Blaney’s Race Truck too much.

The night took a turn for the worse for Blaney and No. 29 Cooper Standard team, when Blaney radioed in under green on lap 97 saying his Truck was really, really bad. Randolph brought Blaney to pit road under green and realized one of the air guns being used to change tires had jammed and was not tightening the lug nuts accordingly, costing Blaney to go three laps down.

With a combination of bad luck and being in the wrong place at the wrong time all night long, Blaney and the team did all they could do to salvage a 25^th place finish.

Blaney and the No. 29 Cooper Standard team now sit 7th in NCWTS driver point standings, 42 points back from first.

“That’s just racing. We can’t hang our heads over something out of our control. We’ll go back to the drawing board and prepare accordingly for Dover in a few weeks where I know we can get back on track. It’s really unfortunate to have a night like that in Charlotte of all places, because you want to show your best stuff at home where your friends and family are.” – Ryan Blaney

BKR PR