Dave Blaney
No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Country Cocktails Chevrolet
Event Preview Fact Sheet
Event/Date: Coca–Cola 600 – May 29, 2005
Venue: Lowe’s Motor Speedway – Concord, N.C.
NOTES:
This Week’s Race Car at Lowe’s Motor Speedway … Dave Blaney will pilot chassis No. 131 from the Richard Childress Racing (RCR) stable. This is the same car Blaney raced earlier this year at Las Vegas (started 29th, finished 13th), Atlanta (started 27th, finished eighth) and Texas (started 12th, finished 26th).
No DNFs for the Bullet … Blaney has been running at the finish of every NEXTEL Cup Series race this season.
RCR at the 600 … Dale Earnhart won the Coca-Cola 600 three times for RCR (’86, ’92, ’93) and Blaney’s RCR teammate Jeff Burton won the annual Memorial Day Weekend classic in 1999 and 2001 while driving for Roush Racing.
Black Jack and Cola … The No. 07 Chevy will once again sport the Jack Daniel’s Country Cocktails paint scheme for the Coca-Cola 600.
Double Duty … Blaney will also be competing in the CARQUEST 300 NASCAR Busch Series race Saturday, May 28 at LMS. Blaney returns to the seat of the No. 31 Whelen Chevrolet for Marsh Racing.
Dirt’s for Racing, Pavement’s for Getting There … The 1995 World of Outlaws Champion will race the No. 74 Smith Brother’s entry on Wednesday night, May 25 when the Advance Auto Parts Modified Super DIRT Series returns to the Dirt Track at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
Meet the Driver … Blaney will sign autographs at the Jack Daniel’s souvenir trailer located on souvenir row at LMS, Saturday, May 28 from 1:30-2:15 p.m. A limited number of tickets are available and can be obtained at the trailer.
Meet the Driver Part Two … Blaney will appear at the Jack Daniel’s Experience Saturday, May 28 from 2-2:45 p.m. The Jack Daniel’s Experience is located outside turn one at LMS, directly across from the hospitality village. Autographs will be available on a first come, first serve basis.
Up to Speed … Live television coverage of the Coca-Cola 600 begins Sunday, May 29 at 5 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on FOX. The race will be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network and XM Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the 12th of 36 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series races will be televised live Thursday, May 26 on SPEED beginning at 7 p.m. EDT.
DAVE BLANEY QUOTES:
How do you prepare yourself for 600 miles at Lowe’s Motor Speedway?
“I think that race wears you out more than any of the others just because it’s so long. It makes it worse having to sit around all day with nothing to do. Sitting in the motor home all day just waiting for the race to start and then having to run 400 laps at night starts to take a toll on you after awhile. It’s tough to get your car right, too. You start in the daylight and the track is a good bit different during the day than it is at night. It’s just another thing we have to deal with. You hope your car is just good enough during the daylight so you can make the transition to be really good at night.”
So do you have to set the car up more on the loose side to be ready when the sun goes down?
“You get more grip at night, for sure, but the car tends to be a little more free at night. You just try and hang on during the day and not to be too far off one way or the other. All that really matters is being good when it counts.”
Does the extra 100 miles make that big of a difference?
“Definitely. Charlotte is a fast race track and there really isn’t much time to take a break. There’s no easy running going on at Charlotte. You’re running hard all night long. I think the late race really plays into it as far as making it a longer day. For some reason, you really feel that extra 100 miles.”
You talked about using the NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Open as a test for the 600. Did you learn anything during the Open?
“I think the main thing we learned is that the set up we’ve been using at a lot of the other tracks didn’t work for us at Charlotte. We didn’t learn anything that would help us for this week as far as a different set up but I guess we did sort out something that we’re not going to do, so I guess that is a help.”
