There was a lot on the line December 3rd in the Allen

Turner Hyundai Snowflake 100 at Pensacola's Five Flags

Speedway.  The win in one of the most prestigious

Pro Late Model events in the country was certainly atop

the list of things every driver in the 36-car field wanted,

but all also wanted to end their 2011 seasons on a high

note.

Ryan Blaney was no different.  After a last-minute

decision to make a trip to Pensacola to compete in the

Snowflake, Blaney had one of the quickest cars on the

track in the 100-lap feature.  But, with so much at stake,

tempers and patience were short for many competitors.

While biding his time, Blaney was taken out of contention

for a win and suffered severe front-end damage to his

#10 DB Racing machine.  He made several pit stops

to try to get the car back into strong contention and had

to overcome a late flat tire to post a 14th-place finish.

"We were alright in practice and we qualified okay," said

Blaney.  "We were kind of on the track pretty hard in

qualifying and that gave up a little bit of time. We still

qualified 14th and I thought that was okay to start the race.

"The first half of the race, we just kind of rode around and tried to save our right rear.  And then it started, about thirty to the end, getting crazy like it usually does here.  I think someone missed a shift on that one restart and everyone was plowing in the back of each other.  You can’t go anywhere.  We got in the inside wall.  We came it, fixed it alright and were still on the lead lap.  I think we actually got up to ninth and we had a flat right rear on the restart so we came in and changed that.  They docked us two laps because we had to stop on the racetrack.  It was alright. I didn’t think we had anything for Augie (Grill, eventual winner) or Bubba (Pollard), but I thought we had a solid top-five car at the end before our troubles.’

With the 2011 season, which included his first-ever NASCAR K&N Pro Series win and the PASS South Championship, in the record books, Blaney is looking forward to an even bigger 2012.

"The last four or five races, we’ve been in contention to win them.  That really boosts your confidence up for the offseason to try to get better for the first race of next year.  So we’ll go home, fix this one up, and get ready for next year."

Blaney Takes 14th Out of Last-Minute Snowflake Run

Blaney Runs Up Front Before Bad Luck Settles In

December 6, 2011

Ryan's DB Racing #10 shows damage from an incident not of his doing in the Snowflake 100.