Ryan Blaney is close to becoming a full-time competitor in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series but for now is only part-time across all three national touring divisions.
As a result, he has some free weekends to compete in short tracks and in Late Models but there’s one problem — he doesn’t currently own one.
Blaney competed in the discipline as a teenager but sold his BD Racing equipment following the 2012 season once he embarked on his NASCAR journey. Now he wishes he still had a Super Late Model to play around with, much like his young gun contemporaries in Chase Elliott, Erik Jones and Daniel Hemric.
“I would love to do some extra racing,” Blaney told Race22.com on Tuesday morning. “I really wish we kept our Super Late Models just to be able to compete in those big races. We’re focused on our NASCAR stuff and going full-time but seat time in any Stock Car never hurts.”
So if a car owner offered the right situation for a race like the Battle at Berlin, Winchester 400 or the All-American 400, Blaney said he would certainly be interested.
The one race Blaney doesn’t have much interest in happens to be the biggest one — the Snowball Derby. He has one attempt at Pensacola in December, failing to make the field for the 2010 event, and just didn’t enjoy his experience.
“I’ve never been the biggest fan of the Snowball Derby,” Blaney explained. “I just didn’t run well down there. It’s a long week that builds up to just one race and you’re buying too many tires. So that’s why I’d rather do a one-weekend or one-day show like Berlin, Winchester or Nashville.
“I love Super Late Model racing. Short track racing is a lot of fun and that’s my background.”
Blaney has spent several years battling Elliott, dating back to their days in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East. Despite their friendly and competitive rivalry, Blaney admitted that driving one of the Elliott Motorsports Super Late Models in a one-off capacity would interest him.
“Maybe Chase will let me get in his someday,” Blaney added. “Those are fast cars and it would be a cool partnership to drive for him.”
Blaney to Make Appearance at Ford/AAA Auto Skills Competition
Blaney will give back to the grassroots racing community in a different way next weekend when he heads up to Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan for the finals of the 66th Annual Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills competition, which takes places from June 7-9.
For the event, 50 teams of high school juniors and seniors — a team from each state — will square off in a competition that has the attention of the motorsports world. Each squad will first be required to take a written exam and then the teams will be provided a mechanical issue on a 2015 Ford Fusion to diagnose and repair.
The repair test will be a timed competition. The team with the best combined scored wins the national championship.
Blaney will be a guest at the event and will serve as an ambassador for AAA, Ford and NASCAR.
“It’s just cool to meet these kids and talk to them because most of them are my age,” Blaney said. “I think this a great opportunity for me to see what they’ve got because they very well could be impressive enough to work for NASCAR teams.”
Millions of dollars in scholarships, automotive equipment and a trip to the Wood Brothers Racing shop in Harrisburg, N.C. There, the winning students will get to work on race cars and learn from professional engineers.
The winning team will also get to shadow Blaney and the No. 21 team during the Sprint Cup weekend at Daytona in July.
“It’s a great opportunity for these kids to see what we do,” Blaney said. “AAA and Ford have this great commitment to getting young people involved in the sport or even more interested in what we do. It’s a good chance for me to pick their brains too because I’ve become more interested in the engineering side since making it to this level too.”
Blaney admitted that he missed a lot of school growing up while pursuing a career in NASCAR. But with all the advancements in technology and aerodynamics, the second-generation driver knows how engineering competitions are for the future of the sport.
“There is a lot more math and science in the sport than ever before,” Blaney said. “It’s such a technical sport. I’ve always liked math but you really gain a greater appreciation for it at this level — you have to know your stuff even as a driver.”
