Ryan Blaney’s First NNS Win Highlights a Great Weekend
for Roush Yates FR9
Mooresville, NC (September 23, 2013) Ryan Blaney captured his first NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) win in just his second start of 2013 in the Penske Racing No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang. A regular in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Blaney methodically worked his way to the front throughout the entire race to take home his inaugural win with Roush Yates power.
Pole winner Sam Hornish Jr. appeared to have the car to beat, but on the final restart Blaney powered the outside line and pulled ahead of Austin Dillon and the rest of the field for the final nine laps to give Ford Racing and Roush Yates Engines their 12th win in just 27 races.
“We had a great car all night,” said the son of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Dave Blaney. “We kept working on it throughout the race, just little tweaks here and there. We were really strong to start out the race and just got better and better as the runs went on. It was really tough the last few restarts to really know what was going to happen but we had a great car to be able to get through one and two good and be able to clear them by three and four.”
The No. 22 Mustang has earned 10 wins this year in the Nationwide Series with four different drivers. AJ Allmendinger, Joey Logano, and Brad Keselowski make up for nine of the victories.
Sam Hornish Jr. continues to lead Dillon in the Championship points by 15. Roger Penske is leading the owner’s championship by 23 points. The Nationwide Series will make the trip to Dover International Speedway next weekend.
Corey LaJoie won his third ARCA Racing Series race of the season in only four starts on Saturday at Kentucky Speedway.
The ZLOOP 150 was rained out Friday night, forcing the field to race Saturday afternoon. After being fastest in practice with his Roush Yates Ford, LaJoie started 13th but raced to the front of the field quickly, leading a total of 40 out of 100 laps.
Chad Boat took the lead with 38 laps to go on a three-wide pass for the top spot between LaJoie and Mason Mitchell. Garrett Smithley brought out the caution moments later after making contact with the inner retaining wall. On the re-start LaJoie powered past Boat and cruised to a 2.564 second win over Mitchell, a fellow Ford FR-9 driver.
“We’ve had really good set ups for these cars lately,” said LaJoie. “We went back to the drawing board after Iowa and put together what we thought would be good at Kentucky, and it ended up being really good. It was a great day.”
Mitchell posted a career best finish of second after leading 20 laps in the Happy Cheeks Ford powered by Roush Yates. Grant Enfinger, driver of the Motor Honey-Casite-Advance-Ford, had another strong finish for Team BCR with a late pass to get by Boat and finish fourth. Enfinger’s Ford was one of the fastest cars on the track at the end of the race.
LaJoie has won three out of only five starts in the ARCA Racing Series. As a developmental driver for Richard Petty Motorsports, he finished first at Chicagoland Speedway in July, Pocono Raceway in August, and Kentucky Speedway in September.
“I’m really proud of how our engines have performed in the ARCA Series so far in 2013,” said Jeff Clark, VP of Sales for Roush Yates. “Watching drivers earn their first career win or race to their best career finishes says a lot about the power and reliability our FR-9 engines. We look forward to working with even more teams next season.”
The season finale for the ARCA Racing Series will run on October 4th at Kansas Speedway.
Jason Johnson defended his race title as winner of the Port-a-Cool U.S. Dirt Track Nationals Champion late Saturday night at Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track. Johnson drew the number five pill to start the rain delayed 30-lap feature from the inside of row three. With the laps running out around 4:45AM, Johnson made his move going into the final turns as Johnny Herrera got caught up behind a slower car. Using the low line, he bounced into Herrera and took the lead coming off turn four to take the win.
Saturday night’s win is Johnson’s 76th career ASCS national Tour victory and his 236th overall race win. Johnson also took home the Hawk Performance Products Fastest Lap of the Night award.
Jack Dover dominated the Fall Brawl II Finale at I-80 Speedway on Saturday night in the ASCS Sprint Car Dirt Series. Dover picked up the Durst Motorplex and Zoz Farms Double Down Back-to Back Challenge check of $20,000, securing his fourth Speedway Motors Midwest Regional title.
