Team Penske top prospect Ryan Blaney believes he is as ready as he’ll ever be to drive full-time in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and says it’s just a matter of tying all the pieces together before Speedweeks at Daytona rolls around in February. If Blaney knows the plan, he didn’t offer it on Friday after qualifying for the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway. With that said, he did say his future was much clearer than it was when the season first started. Obviously we’re working on it really hard, and it’s hard to do, for sure,” Blaney said. “It’s hard to do what we want to but I think if we put our heads down “¦ I think it’s just going to help out for next year. Then we’ll figure it out in the offseason.”
Complicating matters is the rumor that NASCAR is looking to move to a franchising model as early as 2016. On paper, franchising full-time teams would provide current owners inherent value while encouraging new investors to enter the sport. The downside, especially for a team like the Wood Brothers, is that they would not be guaranteed a starting spot under the rumored franchising prototype. Blaney admitted that he doesn’t fully understand that side of the business, and has largely kept himself out of it, but does believe the franchising hurdle is one the biggest hold-ups for him addressing his future. “I haven’t been involved in the discussions too much with that deal,” Blaney said. “I know Eddie (Wood) and Len (Wood) have been a part of it, and Mr. Penske has been a part of it, but they haven’t told me too much about it. So I don’t have a lot of information but I think that is some of the reason they’re kind of pulling the reigns back a little bit. Hopefully when they get all that sorted out it’ll be a little clearer picture on our side.”(Autoweek)(10-18-2015)
