Blaney Enjoys Indy Week With a Solid Run & a Look at the Big Track in Indy 

At Just 17, the History of the Brickyard Can Felt by the Young Racer

Ryan Blaney got to experience everything a young and upcoming racecar driver can during the Brickyard 400 weekend in Indianapolis.  Blaney raced on Thursday night at Lucas Oil Speedway in the ARCA Racing Series, where he posted a career-best second-place finish.  He was then a spectator at the Brickyard 400 rooting his dad on and then he drove the historic high-banks of Anderson Speedway in Monday's Redbud 300.

"It was a really busy week," said Blaney.  "We were strong at Lucas Oil (in the ARCA race) with the Venturini Motorsports car.  We were all right to begin the day, but we spent practice getting better.”

Things were figured out in practice and Blaney posted the second-fastest time in qualifying for the Ansell Protective Gloves 200.  Once the race went green, it took a few laps for Blaney to hit his marks just right and he eventually took the lead on lap 32. 

August 3, 2011

"Our car was really good during the race and it was the dominate car early on," said Blaney.  We missed out pit sequence with the leaders around halfway, but we were able to rebound from that and get back to the front."

Blaney looked to be well his way back to the top of the charts, but the determining factor that spoiled a victory party was the ARCA points leader Ty Dillon took the lead late and hung on to take his  sixth win of the season in 12 starts.  Blaney got back to second and could not run down the leader.

"As the track cooled down, my car got tighter and Ty's car was too good for me to chase down," explained Blaney, who now has two top 10 finishes in two career ARCA starts.   "It was still great to run with Venturini Motorsports and run well again.  They are a great organization to be able to race with."

Blaney had a few days after the ARCA race to look at the future with the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and the Nationwide Series running the same venue as the ARCA cars.  Blaney will not be eligible for NASCAR's top three series until next year, but he was able to get a taste of what those series will hopefully one day be like.  Then, Blaney got the chance to see the Brickyard 400 up close on Sunday.

"I had not been to a race at Indy for a few years, so it was nice to be able to see a race there again.  It was a really good show for the fans and it was nice to be a part of.  You can feel history just walking into that place.    Indy is what it's all about for a Midwest kid.  We went in the museum and it's so cool to see the first car that ran on the bricks 100 years ago."

On Monday Blaney took part in one of the bigger Super Late Model events in Indiana the Redbud 300 at Anderson Speedway.  Blaney's day was not as smooth there as it was earlier in the weekend.  He started outside the top 10 and then had the car shut off midway through the race.

"The car quit on us there and we had to mess around with it for a few minutes," said Blaney.  "Once we got it fixed we went back out and ended up getting in a wreck.  It's too bad because the car was finally starting to drive well at that point.”

The final rundown listed Blaney in 27th. 

Blaney will have a few weeks of down time as he will head back to the Pro All Stars Series at South Boston Speedway on August 20th for the 10th race of the 2011 season.  Blaney is second in points with two wins, making him the only driver with multiple wins this season. 

Ryan Blaney had a busy week at Indy.  (Speed51.com Photo)