Ryan Blaney wreck early in practice at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday after something punctured the left rear tire on his car. He will go to a backup car and starts 37th on Sunday.
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Great Stuff Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I think it just blew a left-rear tire. I couldn’t really feel anything down the frontstretch and I just went into one and it was about the worst place to blow one. It’s an unfortunate situation for us. We’ve got our work cut out for us.”
DO YOU HAVE TO GO TO A BACKUP CAR? “We’ll have to go to a backup car for sure. We’ll go to work today and in the morning to try and get that thing to where it needs to be and try to charge from the back.”
DID YOU FEEL IT BOTTOM OUT OR ANYTHING? “Not really, no. I went through one and two the first lap and it’s rough through there like it normally is, so I didn’t really feel anything odd or out of the ordinary. I figured a couple laps the pressures come up and you’ll be fine, but I didn’t feel anything down the front the lap that it blew into one, so it kind of caught me by surprise. I didn’t feel anything super out of place to make me think it was gonna be flat into one, so it’s just one of those things that stinks and catches you off guard. There was no indication and it was in the worst part of the corner.”
WHAT’S THE CHALLENGE TOMORROW COMING FROM THE REAR OF THE FIELD? “It’ll be a big challenge for multiple reasons, but I feel confident. Hopefully, we can make our way through there. We’ve got all race. We might not be able to get stage points in the first one, but hopefully by the second one maybe we’ll get some stage points and then hopefully the speed is good enough to where we can run up towards the front. Yeah, it sets us back a little bit, but this group is ready to go and they know the new task. It’s gonna be a tall one tomorrow, but I’ve got faith we can make the most of it.”
— Ford Performance —