Dave Blaney
No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet
Event Preview Fact Sheet
Event/Date: Dodge/Save Mart 350 – June 26, 2005
Venue: Infineon Raceway – Sonoma, Calif.
NOTES:
This Week’s Race Car at Infineon Raceway … Dave Blaney will pilot chassis No. 142 from the Richard Childress Racing (RCR) stable. This is a brand new race car.
Double Duty for the Bullet … In addition to his duties in the NEXTEL Cup Series, Blaney will also pilot the No. 66 Penny Racing Supply Chevrolet Monte Carlo for team owner Fred Penny in the NASCAR Auto Zone Southwest Series race on Saturday, June 25.
Meet the Press … Blaney, along with drivers Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards, will be the featured guests at the Dodge/Save Mart 350 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup press conference/luncheon on Thursday, June 23. The event is scheduled from noon – 1:30 p.m. at McCormick and Kuleto’s Seafood Restaurant in historic Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco.
Testing One, Two, Three, Testing … The Jack Daniel’s team tested Chassis No. 142 at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) June 14 in preparation for this weekend’s Dodge/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway.
Back in Black … After sporting the Jack Daniel’s Country Cocktails paint scheme last weekend at Michigan, the No. 07 Chevy will once again wear its traditional black and white Jack Daniel’s colors this weekend at Sonoma.
Meet the Driver … Blaney will appear at the Jack Daniel’s Experience Sunday, June 26 from 9:15-9:45 a.m. The Jack Daniel’s Experience will be located within the speedway in turn seven. Autographs will be available on a first come, first serve basis.
Up to Speed … The Dodge/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway will be televised live Sunday, June 26 beginning at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on FOX and be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network (PRN) and XM Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the 16th of 36 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series events will air live on SPEED Friday, June 24 at 6 p.m. EDT and will also be broadcast live on PRN and XM Satellite Radio.
DAVE BLANEY QUOTES:
How did the test at VIR go and how is that going to help you at Infineon?
“We just shook the car down at VIR. There are some slow speed corners at VIR like there are at Infineon but it’s hard to compare a whole lot. Essentially the test was just to shake down the car and work the bugs out. There were a few things about the car we needed to address so we’re good to go when we get out to California. You never know. We’ll just get out there and see what we’ve got.”
RCR has a reputation for building good road course cars. Are you confident with what you’re taking to Sonoma?
“Oh, for sure. I’ve always liked racing out there and I had a couple pretty good races at Infineon in the Jasper car, so we’ll see. RCR has run really good on the road courses in the past with Robby (Gordon) and Kevin (Harvick) so everyone on the Jack Daniel’s team is looking forward to it.”
Do you have to like a road course to run well on one?
“Definitely. It’s a different mentality all together. You go in there with a different state of mind and a different strategy and go from there. If you don’t enjoy the shifting and all the different techniques that go into road racing, it’s hard to be successful at it.”
Does a road course tend to bring out road rage in some of the drivers?
“I don’t know if it does. It’s just close quarters and really tight racing. You try to out-brake people and that naturally puts everyone really close together. Obviously, things happen but I don’t think a road course gets you any more upset that anywhere else in particular.”
Is passing really at a premium at Infineon? Do you have to work that much harder to get by other cars?
“It all depends how good your car is. If your car is really good under braking and accelerating off the corners, there are quite a few places to pass. If you have a really good car, it’s not that difficult. When you get around cars that are running about the same speeds you are then you’re just kind of riding, waiting for the other guys to make a mistake, so it is tough in that regard.”
What’s the craziest thing that has happened to you on a road course?
“I remember breaking the shifter ball off the shifter one year at Watkins Glen and I ended up only having a little tiny stub sticking out of the transmission and I had to grab a hold of that all day. They threw me a roll of tape and told me to make a shifter ball out of that. I told them ‘I just broke the steel one, how long do you think the tape one is going to last?’ Sometimes those races are strange. Things break that you don’t expect to break and you wind up having to use different things to try and replace what broke.”
