By Sarah Handy, Staff Writer
Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney came into Sunday’s Bluegreen Vacations 500 at ISM Raceway with one more shot to make the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway next weekend. Despite finishing the 312-lap event with a solid third place finish in his No. 12 DEX Imaging Ford, Blaney was eliminated from title contention.
Blaney entered the day starting with a solid 10th place qualifying effort in the desert and consistently finished both the first and second stage in the top-10 running order.
With stage finishes of fifth and seventh, respectively, Blaney still had a chance to punch his ticket at Homestead but realistically it came down to a must-win scenario.
Blaney came close, ultimately finishing third behind eventual race winner Denny Hamlin and his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Kyle Busch.
Even with being eliminated from the Championship 4, the 25-year old didn’t hang his head and is hopeful for a solid fun in the season-finale next Sunday afternoon.
“I’ve got faith in the old Penske group to really find some stuff and hopefully we have a decent run at Homestead and that leads into next year”, Blaney said.
Blaney will head to South Florida looking for his second win on the season in the Ford EcoBoost 400 after scoring his first win of the 2019 season last month at Talladega Superspeedway.
If Blaney can find victory lane it will be make four top-10 finishes in a row for the Penske driver and 19 top-10 finishes on his season resume.