No. 12 Menards/Duracell Ford Mustang – Ryan Blaney
Start: 10th
Stage 1: 38th
Stage 2: 38th
Finish: 38th
Status: Accident
Laps Completed: 53/300
Laps Led: 0
Point Standings (behind first): 9th (-174)
Notes:
Driving the No. 12 Menards/Duracell Ford Mustang, Ryan Blaney was set to start Sunday’s 400-mile race at Nashville Superspeedway in the 10th position, but damage to the left rear quarter panel forced the team to pit prior to the green flag and start the race from the tail of the field. Blaney raced his way inside the top 25, but a brake failure at lap 53 brought an early ending to the day for the No. 12 Ford Mustang team.
On the opening pace lap, the left rear quarter panel of the No. 12 Menards/Duracell Ford Mustang received damage, which forced Blaney to pit lane before the green flag flew to start the race. On the team’s first two scheduled pit stops of the race, crew chief Todd Gordon called for wholesale chassis adjustments after Blaney reported the No. 12 Ford had a significant lack of lateral grip.
Blaney experienced some brake fade prior to the first pit stop and the team tried to address the issue by pulling brake tape to increase cooling. However, Blaney had a brake failure at lap 53, which resulted in heavy contact with the wall that ended the race for the No. 12 Menards/Duracell Mustang.
Quote: “It was not a very good start to our day and not a good end, either. We had an issue before the race and had to come and fix it. Then we had some brake trouble and we came in and pulled tape, and then on the restart I’m not sure if I broke a rotor – I think that’s what happened because something exploded into Turn 1 and then no brakes and took a pretty big lick. It’s a shame. Just not a very good day for us and hate that it ended early. I hate it for Menards and everybody in our group and Ford, but we’ll come back strong at Pocono next week.”
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
