LONG POND, Pa. — Sitting in the truck, Ryan Blaney got some fatherly advice right before the green flag dropped.
Choose the right line on restarts.
With more than 570 NASCAR starts behind him, Dave Blaney sure knew what he was talking about.
Ryan Blaney pulled away on the second attempt at a green-white-checkered finish to win the Truck Series race Saturday at Pocono Raceway.
“It was pretty funny that we were talking about restarts before the race and that’s what it came down to,” Blaney said.
Blaney had the truck to beat on both restarts to win his second career Truck race in 20 starts. He dipped low and took the lead off the first restart, then would not be denied a second time.
“It was just a matter of being able to get close to make the move,” Blaney said. “Once the final restarts came, I really had to be aggressive.”
The 19-year-old Blaney drove a Ford into Victory Lane in the Truck Series for the first time in four years. About the only one who missed out on the fun was team owner Brad Keselowski. Keselowski, the reigning Sprint Cup champion, was off to Iowa to drive in the Nationwide Series race.
Blaney gave Keselowski a happy landing.
Pole-sitter Miguel Paludo finished a career-best second and German Quiroga matched a career best with a third-place finish. Joey Coulter and Ross Chastain rounded out the top five. Series points leader Matt Crafton was eighth and now leads Jeb Burton by 52 points.
“We had the fastest truck on the racetrack all day long,” Paludo said. “It’s a little frustrating to come second but I’ll take it.”
The field was set by practice speeds after rain washed out qualifying on Saturday.
A third-generation driver, Blaney now has more NASCAR wins (2) than his dad. Dave Blaney is winless in 450 career Cup starts, three Truck starts and has one win (2006) in 121 Nationwide starts.
“I’ve been really lucky to have my dad at both of my Truck wins,” Blaney said. “Not a lot of guys can say that. I’ve been fortunate enough to have him here and have him give me advice along the way.”
Back on asphalt, Blaney made it another fun finish for the Truck Series. The series took a break last week to run at Eldora Speedway for NASCAR’s first dirt race in more than 40 years. Austin Dillon won in the muck in front of 20,000 fans in a race that returned NASCAR to its roots.
The surface hardly mattered to Blaney for the scheduled 50-lap race.
He needed four more before he could celebrate to win.
James Buescher and Todd Bodine connected late on four-wide racing to bring out the caution and ensure a G-W-C finish. Ty Dillon and Johnny Sauter crashed to set up the second attempt of NASCAR’s version of overtime.
On the final green, Blaney broke free for good to top Paludo by .270 seconds.
“He does a great job when he have adversity,” Blaney’s crew chief, Doug Randolph, said. “He always keeps his composure and makes it pay off in the end. The restarts are always very hairy. Those restarts paid big dividends at the end.”
Blaney had his seventh top 10 this season and jumped from seventh to third in the standings. He also won a Truck race last season at Iowa.
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