Dave Blaney
No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet
Event Preview Fact Sheet
Event/Date: UAW-Ford 500 – October 2, 2005
Venue: Talladega Superspeedway – Talladega, Ala.
NOTES:
This Week’s Race Car at Talladega Superspeedway … Dave Blaney will pilot chassis No. 133 from the Richard Childress Racing (RCR) stable. Built new for 2005, this is the same Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet Blaney raced in the Gatorade Duel at Daytona in February (started 14th, finished 25th) and in July at the Pepsi 400 (started 30th, finished 27th). The Hartford, Ohio driver also raced this car at Talladega in May (started eighth, finished 19th).
RCR Rules … Richard Childress leads the way with nine Talladega wins as a car owner, all of them coming with Dale Earnhardt.
It’s a Boy … Congratulations to Jack Daniel’s Racing Team car chief Kirk Almquist and his wife Elisa on the birth of their first child. Kody Joseph Almquist was born on Tuesday, September 27 at 11:04 a.m. and weighed in at eight pounds four ounces.
Get Well Soon … Jack Daniel’s Racing Team member Dave Maddex had emergency surgery Monday morning to have his appendix removed. Jackman Mike Scearce will fill in for him this weekend. Maddex is expected to make a full recovery and return to the race track next weekend at Kansas Speedway.
Make it four for RCR … Kerry Earnhardt will attempt to qualify for the UAW-Ford 500 in the No. 33 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet, making it four entries for RCR this weekend.
Meet the Driver … Blaney will sign autographs at the Jack Daniel’s souvenir trailer Sunday, October 2 from 9:15 - 10 a.m. A limited number of tickets are available and can be obtained at the trailer.
Up to Speed … The UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway will be televised live Sunday, October 2 beginning at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on NBC and be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and XM Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the 29th of 36 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series events will air live on SPEED Friday, September 30 at 4 p.m. EDT and will also be broadcast live on MRN and XM Satellite Radio.
DAVE BLANEY QUOTES:
As a driver, a lot of times you see “the big wreck” developing in front of you but sometimes it’s not something the fans can see. What does that mean?
“You see it throughout the entire race. A lot of times guys will get into each other, kind of pull through it and nothing will happen. You’re holding your breath waiting for the one that goes a little bit too far and gets away from everybody. That’s the way you race at Talladega, especially when it’s getting down to the end of the race. You’re squeezing people for every last inch you can get. It goes too far a lot of times.”
With the current rules package, we tend to see a couple different packs of cars at Daytona but at Talladega there’s always a big pack and they stay together running two and three wide. Have you ever gotten caught in the middle and realized how crazy it gets and how much there really is to keep track of?
”You’ll be sitting in the middle with a lot of guys in front and behind you and just get pulled along running half throttle in the middle of this pack. It really gives you a false sense of security where you think you can pull out and go somewhere. Then when you try to pull out and go, you can’t. They just drag you along and you just try to get in position to take every spot you can. Sometimes you’re aggressive and sometimes your not. Sometimes you don’t care. It just depends what point the race is at. There might be a time where you try the top or the bottom of the track to see how your car is – if there’s any particular place on the track where you can gain a lot of speed. There are times when you are trying to learn what you can and can’t do and there are other times when you’re just making laps.”
Is there anything you can do when the “big one” starts or are you just kind of a passenger at that point?
“You’re going so fast that a lot of times there’s nowhere to go. If you’re three or four wide, it’s not like you can just jerk the car to the bottom and miss the wreck because there’s someone there. You usually can’t see much when the wreck happens. If you miss a wreck at Talladega, most of the time it’s just luck. Those wrecks aren’t as bad as you would think. As long as it’s a wreck where everyone is moving and going about the same speed, everyone gets slowed down at about the same rate. The bad ones are where you’re sitting still waiting for someone to come along. That’s bad – very bad.”
