Race 2 Win: Sprint Cup Series Race Notes

Sprint Cup Series

Samsung 500 - Dave Blaney Notes

Cat Racing/Dave Blaney Event Preview
Texas Motor Speedway
Samsung 500

Texas Motor Speedway News and Notes

Texas Toyota…The Caterpillar Racing team plans to utilize chassis No. 11 for the Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. The team plans to spend Tuesday and Wednesday at Kentucky Speedway with this car preparing for the event this weekend.

Martinsville Rewind…The team, having to qualify its way into the race, made the show with an 18th-place qualifying run. After running in the top 15 for much of the event, Dave Blaney was leading the race when a hole in the radiator sidelined the team early.

Blaney’s Career Stats…Blaney hopes to make his 275th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start when the green flag waves for the 334-lap event Sunday afternoon. He made his first career Cup Series start in October 1992 at [Rockingham] North Carolina Speedway and finished 22nd (qualified 24th) for his first Cup Series start in Texas in 2000. Like this weekend, Blaney was aboard a Bill Davis Racing-owned machine.

Blaney at TMS…Blaney has made 11 Cup Series starts at the 1.5-mile high-banked oval during his career. The veteran driver has started as high as 12th (2005) and finished as high as sixth (2001). He has scored three top-20 finishes in Cup Series competition at the speedway.

BDR at TMS…Competitors driving Bill Davis Racing-owned cars have been racing at Texas Motor Speedway since it opened in 1997 and have made 20 starts. Those drivers have posted two top-10 finishes at the track.

Where to Find Dave…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.

Now That’s Teamwork…Blaney and the Cat crew made a two-day stop at Kentucky Speedway before heading to Texas Motor Speedway this weekend. Next week, Blaney will spend Tuesday at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway testing the No. 5 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series entry for Mike Skinner, who had another obligation to attend to that day.

Texas Broadcast Schedule…Qualifying for the Samsung 500 is scheduled to start at 4:40 p.m. ET Friday, April 4. The 334-lap event is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. ET Sunday, April 6, and will broadcast LIVE on FOX (TV), PRN (radio) and Sirius Satellite Radio.

Blaney’s Thoughts on Texas…
“I think we’re making progress with this Cat team. The results from Martinsville don’t show that, but until we had the problem with the radiator, we were running pretty well. I think we were on our way to getting ourselves solidly back into the top 35, but coulda, woulda, shoulda, I guess. You have to be around at the finish, obviously, in order to take advantage of those kinds of situations. Still, we feel good about the way the car ran, and we’re starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We’ve done a lot of testing in the past couple of weeks, and it definitely helped us last week. We added some people and made some changes on the team, and I think that helps too. Hopefully, the testing that we have planned for Kentucky this week will be really beneficial because we’ve struggled this season on the mile-and-a-half tracks, and that’s not a program you want to find yourselves stumbling on. Texas might be our biggest challenge to date, but I’m confident in this Caterpillar team.”