Race 2 Win: Pocono 500 - Dave Blaney Notes

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Pocono 500 - Dave Blaney Notes

Dave Blaney
No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet
Event Preview Fact Sheet

Event/Date: Pocono 500 – June 12, 2005
Venue: Pocono Raceway – Long Pond, Pa.

NOTES:

This Week’s Race Car at Pocono Raceway … Dave Blaney will pilot chassis No. 141 from the Richard Childress Racing stable. Built new for 2005, this is the same car Blaney was racing inside the top 10 at Richmond (started 19th, finished 27th) until a flat tire forced him to pit under green flag conditions. Clint Bowyer raced the same car in April at Phoenix (started 25th, finished 22nd).

One Year Ago This Weekend … Last year at the Pocono 500, Blaney was called upon by team owner Richard Childress to replace Johnny Sauter in the No. 30 Chevrolet. Blaney would drive the car in eight more races in 2004 until Jeff Burton was tabbed to finish the season.

Testing 1,2,3, Testing … Immediately following last weekend’s race at Dover, Blaney and the Jack Daniel’s Racing Team tested at Michigan International Speedway June 6-7 in preparation for the upcoming Batman Begins 400.

Dirt’s for Racing, Pavement’s for Getting There … After the test at Michigan, Blaney will drive to Rossburg, Ohio to participate in the NEXTEL Prelude to the Dream at Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway. The NEXTEL Prelude to the Dream is a mid-week promotional lead into the annual Dirt Late Model Dream June 10-11, an event that boasts a paycheck of $100,000 awaiting the 100-lap feature winner.

Meet the Driver … Blaney will sign autographs at the Jack Daniel’s souvenir trailer Sunday, June 12 from 10-10:45 a.m. A limited number of tickets are available and can be obtained at the trailer.

Up to Speed … The Pocono 500 will be televised live Sunday, June 12 beginning at 1 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on FOX and broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and XM Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the 14th of 36 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series events will air live on FX Saturday, June 11 at noon EDT and will also be broadcast live on MRN and XM Satellite Radio.

DAVE BLANEY QUOTES:
Obviously, Pocono is one of the more unique racetracks the NEXTEL Cup Series visits. Is it a race track you enjoy?
“Pocono is a lot of fun. There are three different corners and it’s a challenge to be decent in all of them. You have to try and get really good in one of them where you can make some passes off that corner. If the car is good in turn three, it makes it easier to pass on the front straightaway, if you’re good in turn one, you can pass up the back straight. You just have to take advantage of where the car is better. All three corners at Pocono are different challenges and you just do your best not to have a weak one. It’s tough to be really great in all three. If you’re really good in turn one or turn three, the thing to do is just try and hold your ground at the other places on the race track. It’s a little bit of a waiting game at Pocono. You have to wait for the place on the track where you’re strong so you can take advantage of the guy you’re racing with.

How do you determine when and how many times you shift at Pocono?
“It used to be according to the engine and gear combinations we had, but based on the current gear rules, we won’t be able to shift at all. We used to up-shift going into one and down-shift out of three to get to the flag stand. Now it’s going to be a whole new ball game. When we could down-shift exiting turn three, we had a whole other gear to get off the corner. Now the car will bog way down and it’s going to take forever to get up to speed. It’s going to be like taking off from a stop sign in fourth gear.”

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