NASCAR driver Ryan Blaney had a pretty good showing at Kansas Speedway in two different series last weekend and he’s going for the double again this weekend.
Blaney raced in his first Sprint Cup Series race on Saturday night where he had a strong finish in the No. 12 SKF Ford for Team Penske in the Sprint Cup Series. It wasn’t the finish he was looking for in the Cup car rolling in 27th at the line, but he brought the car back to the garage in one piece.
He didn’t fare so well in the Camping World Truck Series when he got loose in his No. 29 Cooper Standard Ford battling his Brad Keselowski Racing teammate Joey Logano for position. Tyler Young then ran into the back of Blaney’s truck which sent him spinning and out of the race.
WKVI’s Anita Goodan talked to Blaney in a NASCAR teleconference Tuesday morning and asked what he found more challenging at Kansas – running for championship points in the Truck Series or gaining experience in the Sprint Cup Series.
“That’s tough,” Blaney said. “You know I only accomplished one of those things. I only gained experience in the Cup race. I didn’t really run for points in the Truck race. We ended up getting wrecked, but there are things that can be applied from the Cup car to the Truck or Nationwide car – just how you race and things like that. The Cup experience was definitely huge. I really didn’t know what to expect going in there about how everyone was going to race and what it was going to play out to be. It was good to kind of get an idea of what it should be like.”
Blaney will be on double duty again this weekend as he will drive in the truck series Friday night and then travel to Iowa Speedway for the Nationwide Race on Sunday afternoon.
He sounded pretty confident that mental preparation won’t be a problem in handling two different race tracks in two different types of race cars.
“Like I said, I’ve done double duty before. Yes, it is at a different race track – two tracks that I’ve been on few times before and I’d like to think I have It’s two tracks I’ve been on a few times before. I like to think I’s have fair experience at Charlotte. I’ve run there a couple a couple times in a truck and Nationwide car. Iowa, I’ve been been there a lot. I think the mental preparation will be fine. Hopefully we’ll have a good Truck race and that will carry momentum into the Nationwide race.”
The Truck Series race will be Friday at 8:30 p.m. ET at Charlotte Motor Speedway and the Nationwide Race will be Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. ET at Iowa Speedway.
