Ryan Blaney Settles for Sixth in ARCA Debut After a Dominating Performance

First ARCA Starts End With Top 10 and Pole Award

The ARCA Racing Series Presented by Menards has seen several drivers earn their first series win in their first-ever start in the historic series.  On June 25th, Ryan Blaney nearly became another.

Blaney, driving in the #25 Lauren Briant-backed Venturini Motorsports Chevrolet, sat on the pole in his first ARCA start at Winchester Speedway (IN).  From there, Blaney led the most laps, only to blow a tire late in the race which cost him a victory.

Undaunted, Blaney recovered from the misfortune to rebound for a very respectable sixth-place finish in his first ARCA start.

"From the start of the first practice to the end of the race, we were good," said Blaney.  "Everything about the day was going our way; from a good-handling car and to at halfway our team beat point leader Ty Dillon off pit road.  We did have the trouble, but still to finish well means a lot."

June 27, 2011

Blaney was leading on lap 161 when the tire went down.  Once convincingly in the lead, Blaney lost a couple laps on pit road, but the #25 was just as fast as ever when it returned to the track.

"I was really confident in the race because our car seemed to be able to hang on longer than the others," said Blaney.  "We took tires at halfway and got back to the lead and with like 30 or so laps to go, we blew a tire and I was able to keep from wrecking.  We worked on it and finished well."

After the blown tire, Blaney was able to get a lap back and finish one down off the pace in sixth.  With so few cars on the lead lap, another caution could have left Blaney fighting for a win once again.

"The car was good enough that if a yellow had come out with 15 or 20 to go, we would have been in victory lane.  I am confident when I say that.  The car was still very strong after the blown tire."

Blaney would have added his name to a short list of drivers who have won in their first ARCA start. Brennan Poole has already done that this season for Venturini Motorsports.

"It's a lot of fun when you can go to a race and be that good off the truck," said Blaney.  "I have to thank Billy Venturini and all of the guys at Venturini Motorsports for going us such a good car."

Plans are still in the works for Blaney to return to the driver seat in the ARCA Series this season. Blaney will test this week for Venturini Motorsports before returning to Super Late Model action on Friday.  Blaney will head to Ace Speedway (NC) for the next Pro All Stars Series event.

"PASS has been a lot of fun this year because there have been so many different winners with no repeats," said Blaney. "I really like running with them because when you do get to victory lane you know it means something."  

Ryan Blaney ran well in his first ARCA event.  (Speed51.com Photo)