Blaney Captures Elusive PASS South Championship with Second at Concord
Blaney Beats Out Series Veterans Fogleman and Loden in Mason-Dixon Meltdown
Ryan Blaney has had his fair share of championship-caliber runs in his time with the PASS South tour, but until this weekend, he had fallen just short of the trophy. That all changed on Saturday, April 26th.
This time, Blaney did exactly what he needed to do to bring home the 2011 series championship trophy and it worked out flawlessly.
Blaney led the field early in the Mason-Dixon Meltdown/Thanksgiving Classic 200 at Concord Speedway (NC), recovered from a bad pit stop sequence and a missed shift on a restart to finish a close second on the track. The result was enough for Blaney and the number-10 DB Racing team to leapfrog Jay Fogleman for the point lead at the checkered flag for the 2011 PASS South Championship.
“We really just kept getting better and better through the year and by the end of the year we were really good,” said Blaney. “It’s hard to come out here and compete with the guys that run here on a weekly basis like (Roger Lee) Newton and Colt (James, Concord winner). It’s such a weird joint that you have to run here
Sept 19, 2011
a bunch to get in the rhythm of it, but we can’t be too sad with a car that could have won, a second-place finish and a championship.”
“We led most of the race in the beginning,” added Blaney. “And then I don’t know what they did with the pit stops there. The top-five guys went by the pit entrance and then they opened it and everyone else came down pit road. So I’m not really sure what they were doing there but I think we lined up seventh or eighth when we came out of the pits. We got up to fourth pretty quick and I got up to the lead with actually 35 (laps) to go. Then on that restart I screwed up when I missed a shift. So that’s how those guys got by us.”
Like most racecar drivers, Blaney wasn’t planning to settle for just one trophy. He wanted to take them both back home to High Point, North Carolina with him that night.
“I just couldn’t catch Colt (James, winner),” said Blaney. He was way too good and I knew we were going to have to stay ahead of him if we wanted to win the race and I messed us up there. It’s good to finally get this South championship. I hate it for Jay (Fogleman) that he had mechanical trouble, you hate to win a championship that way but I’m happy we finally got one.”
The PASS South Thanksgiving Classic Mason-Dixon Meltdown at Concord Speedway was the final race of Blaney’s 2011 season, but stay tuned to www.RyanBlaney.com for all the latest news on his 2012 plans and to see if he’ll be headed to a track near you.
Blaney at Concord Speedway working his way toward the second-place run that won him the title. (Speed51.com Photo)
