Broken Wheel Cost Blaney PASS South Title at Newport

Ryan Blaney finished second in points after trouble at Newport Speedway.

Ryan Blaney went into the final race of the 2010 PASS South season as the point leader by just four markers over Preston Peltier.  His goal for the weekend of course was to win the championship and it didn’t seem out of reach as Blaney had won the previous race held at Newport Speedway (TN).  Blaney qualified well for Saturday’s Mason-Dixon Meltdown and was running up front when the right front tire started going flat.  That cost Blaney several laps as he was forced to pit under green.  Blaney saw his championship hopes fade with a 16th-place finish while Peltier had a top five run.

“We were running good at Newport and we were just looking to make laps and be there at the end so we could contend for the championship,” said Blaney.  “We were up front and looking strong and the right front wheel had a crack in it and it slowly started to lose air in it.  I rode around trying to stay on the lead lap and I had to go to pit road to get it changed.  It might have been the wrong move, but we didn’t want to wreck the car.”

Blaney was upset about not having won the championship, but he still knows that they had a great season with three wins.  Now, his focus will be to look to some of the bigger Super Late Model shows down the stretch.

“As hard as it was to not win the championship we are ready to put this behind us,” said Blaney.  “We’ll go to the North South Shootout and look for a win or a good finish.  We can’t do anything about the past now, so we will just move on from here.”

The North South Shootout at Concord Speedway (NC) will be Blaney’s next race on November 5th and 6th.  That will be a tune up as they prep for the World Crown 300 and the Snowball Derby.