Cat Racing/Dave Blaney Event Preview
Martinsville Speedway
Goody’s Cool Orange 500
Martinsville Speedway News and Notes
Martinsville’s Machine…The Caterpillar Racing team plans to utilize chassis No. 40 for the Goody’s Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. This is a new Toyota Camry, but the team spent Monday at Caraway Speedway in Asheboro, N.C., shaking it down.
New and Familiar Faces at BDR…NASCAR veteran Gene Nead makes his return to Bill Davis Racing this week. Nead spent part of last year at BDR and returns to lead the team in its R&D efforts. Nead will also travel to the racetrack to assist the team during race weekends. The No. 22 team also welcomes Allen Hart to its lineup. Allen joins the team from Penske Racing and will travel with the team serving as an engineer.
Blaney’s Career Stats…Dave Blaney hopes to make his 274th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start when the green flag waves for Sunday afternoon’s event. He made his first career Cup Series start in October 1992 at [Rockingham] North Carolina Speedway and finished 41st (qualified 20th) for his first Cup Series start at Martinsville in 2000. Like this weekend, Blaney was aboard a Bill Davis Racing-owned machine.
Blaney at Martinsville…Blaney has made 14 Cup Series starts at the .526-mile oval during his career. He has started as high as sixth (2006) and finished as high as 16th (2005). He has scored four top-20 finishes in Cup Series competition at the speedway and has qualified inside the top 10 twice.
BDR at Martinsville…Competitors driving Bill Davis Racing-owned cars have been racing at Martinsville Speedway since 1993 and have made 36 starts. Those drivers have posted two top-five finishes and three top-10 finishes at the track.
Bring Your Sharpie…Look for Blaney to stop by the Caterpillar/Toyota Racing merchandise hauler to sign autographs this weekend. Please check with the trailer for exact times. Blaney is also scheduled to appear at the Toyota PitPass stage Sunday morning.
Frequent Flier Miles…The Caterpillar Racing team will earn its wings over the next couple of weeks. The team tested at Caraway Speedway Monday and will spend Tuesday and Wednesday at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway. Blaney and the team are scheduled to travel to Kentucky Speedway the following week for two days of testing there.
Martinsville Broadcast Schedule…Qualifying for the Goody’s Orange Crush 500 is scheduled to start at 3:40 p.m. ET Friday, March 28. The 500-lap event is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. ET Sunday, March 30, and will broadcast LIVE on FOX (TV), MRN (radio) and Sirius Satellite Radio.
Blaney’s Thoughts on Martinsville…
“Obviously, we’re not where we want to be points or performance-wise at this point in the game. But we’ve done quite a bit of testing this week, and we’ve got more planned for next week, so we’re hoping we’ll hit on something that will help. It’s certainly not going to hurt us to get more time on the track with these cars and I think we made a lot of headway just in the couple of hours we spent at Caraway. I’m also really glad to see Gene Nead back at Bill Davis Racing. He was here for a while last year and everyone, including myself, was sorry to see him go. I think he brings a lot to any program, so we’re excited to see him leading the R&D team and helping Tommy [Baldwin, crew chief] whenever he can. That’s definitely a positive for our Caterpillar program. Everyone is working really hard, and we’re hopeful we can get ourselves into the top 35 before we head to Texas so we can relieve a bit of the stress.”
