By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
Sunday was a good day to be in Team Penske equipment at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
With all three Fords hitting the top five, Ryan Blaney took a difficult car and came home in fifth during the South Point 400 while teammate Joey Logano was in fourth while Brad Keselowski earned the team their third straight victory in the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and 500th of all time.
“Congrats to Brad, that No. 2 team,” Blaney said. “The 500th win for Penske, man, that’s pretty neat.”
For Blaney, the day didn’t end with anything north of a smile. Hitting the wall early with Aric Almirola, Blaney dropped through the field after qualifying sixth.
From there, it was a race through the field. All while fellow playoff drivers were dropping out around him.
“Man, we were all over the place,” he said. “I was good on short runs. The long runs, I’d be really, really loose. We kept trying to get it to where it would last. I thought we got better but it definitely wasn’t where we needed to be.
“It was a struggle.”
With Las Vegas running a second date for the first time, Blaney came in with momentum from the previous event in March. There, Blaney won the pole and finished fifth. On Sunday, Blaney’s No. 12 crew had a lot to do with a little to keep up with his teammates.
“[The team] worked really hard all day,” he said. “I can’t thank them enough for that. Try to stay out of trouble and survive, I guess.”
Earning only three stage points on Sunday, his fifth-place result gives him a cushion in the playoff picture, exiting Vegas now 20 points above the 12th-place cutoff with two races remaining until elimination.
“We have to work on some stuff,” he said, “but salvaging a decent day is alright.”
"It's chaotic. We were lucky to stay out of it."
A crazy day for Ryan @Blaney ends with a top-five finish in a damaged race car. He now sits seventh in the #NASCARPlayoffs standings. #Blaney pic.twitter.com/rVdrDrF8fI
— NASCAR on USA (@NASCARonUSA) September 17, 2018