Tropicana 400 - Dave Blaney Notes

DAVE BLANEY -- #77 JASPER ENGINES & TRANSMISSIONS FORD TROPICANA 400—CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY (July 13, 2003)

DAVE BLANEY and the #77 Jasper Engines & Transmissions Ford team enter the Tropicana 400 at Chicagoland Speedway ranked 26th in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series team standings, 128 points behind 20th-place Greg Biffle—the most recent WC winner—after his 35th-place finish at Daytona last weekend; BLANEY started 39th at Daytona, and had moved into the top-20 by Lap 60 when he was turned around exiting Turn 2 by a trailing car in the lead-draft, sending him into a long slide down the backstretch; BLANEY limped to the pits with a flat left-front tire and subsequent shredded fender, out of contention.

BLANEY’s best career WC start in Chicago (two races) is seventh (2002-29.741 secs.) and his career finishes are 12th (2001) and 17th (2002); in the inaugural race at Chicagoland (20010, the #77 Jasper Ford—then driven by Robert Pressley—started 13th (29.830 secs.) and finished a close second to race-winner Kevin Harvick.

In the 2002 race at Chicagoland, BLANEY qualified seventh (29.741 secs.) and joined the other two Penske-Jasper Engine-powered entries among the top-ten starting spots (including pole-winner Ryan Newman) for the first time in 2002; early-race optimism for BLANEY was neutered when the #77 Jasper Taurus initially failed to fire prior to the start of the race and was forced to drop to the rear of the field for the start; through the race's early stages, BLANEY scrambled to regain ground, moving into the top-20 at the 100-mile mark. But only three laps after the team's second green-flag pit stop (Lap 134), the race's third caution flag fell, leaving the #77 Jasper Ford one lap down for the remainder of the race; over the race's final third, BLANEY registered lap times comparable to the top-five contenders, but couldn't regain his lead-lap status; BLANEY finished 17th, the second car one-lap down while Newman shared in the PJE bad luck, blowing a tire while leading with 40 miles to go, sending him to the back of the lead-lap cars (15th) before rallying in the final 25 laps to finish fifth.

The Busch Series race at Chicagoland will be BLANEY’s fourth start this season in the #31 Whelen Ford, powered by a Penske-Jasper Engine; BLANEY and the #31 Whelen Ford are also entered in next weekend’s Busch Series race at New Hampshire; BLANEY has never run a Busch Series race at Chicagoland (in 65 career Busch starts), but has registered four of his six career Busch poles at similarly-sized tracks (Charlotte-2, Texas-1, Atlanta-1).

In March, BLANEY posted a career-best third-place finish at Darlington, his third top-ten finish over a four-week stretch (10th at NCS after his first career pole position, eighth at Atlanta) following the season-opening Daytona 500.

Entries powered by PENSKE-JASPER ENGINES have registered two wins and six pole positions in 17 races thus far in 2003, including Jeremy Mayfield’s pole at Talladega (4/6); RUSTY WALLACE leads the trio of PJE-powered entries in the WC points, ranking ninth (2,019 points-1 top-5, 6 top-10s), while Penske teammate NEWMAN is 16th (1,833 points-four pole positions, wins at Texas and Dover, 5 top-5s, 7 top-10s); BLANEY is 26th (1,592 points-one pole position, 1 top-5, 3 top-10s).

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