By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
Ryan Blaney has shown the speed in 2018 with Team Penske, leading 418 laps and grabbing three top-five finishes.
What’s missing is a victory, which makes a return to Pocono Raceway extra special for Blaney, who scored his first and only Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win at the 2.5-mile track one year ago for Wood Brothers Racing. Entering the same race in 2018, Blaney and team have an inherent mental edge approaching Sunday’s Pocono 400.
“It suites the way we set up the cars and the way I drive them,” Blaney said. “It just all comes together. It gives you confidence as a driver and as a whole team. You want to repeat that when you come back to a place where you’ve had success, that definitely helps out.”
Success at Pocono came well before his 2017 Cup victory, as Blaney won a Camping World Truck Series race in 2013 and also got his racing career started on the dirt track located outside the speedway’s third turn.
“I’ve always enjoyed this place,” he said. “I’ve come up here and watched my dad run a lot throughout the years. I made my first start in a racecar at the dirt track out there in Turn 3. I made my first ever quarter-midget start. So, this place has always been special. I’ve had a lot of family come to this race.
“I’ve always liked coming here. Then, you jump in a Cup car and it’s even more special because you’re shifting a couple times a lap.”
With quick equipment and a familiar track, Blaney wants it to equal a win once again. 2018 has been a fast year with slow results, suffering three DNFs in the last six races despite leading 154 laps.
Pocono can be the place it all turns around.
“We need to have a good run the next couple weeks,” he said. “That’s almost like an extra slap in the face when you have fast cars and have problems like that.
“The good news is we do have fast cars right now, it’s just a matter of putting everything together.”