Ryan Blaney needed “a little bit more pace” at Dover

The race weekend at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway was one of the strongest from start to finish this season for Blaney and his No. 12 Penske Ford team.

He was fastest in Saturday’s practice session and qualified on the front row alongside pole winner Kyle Busch.

In the race, Blaney was just as consistent, finishing fourth in Stage 1, eighth in Stage 2 and led a season-high 47 laps at one point before coming home seventh – just his second top 10 in the last seven races.

“I still thought we had like fourth to seventh-place potential all day, so I’m proud of the effort by everybody on this team for sticking with it,” said Blaney, 30, who is still looking for his first win of the 2024 season.

“I appreciate the effort. It was a long day. To run 400 laps around this place is tough and working on it all day, the No. 12 boys stuck with it. We’ll go to Kansas next week.”

Blaney’s strong run was almost derailed by an untimely caution during a round of green flag pit stops in the final stage.

He was running sixth when he decided to make his final stop but shortly after he exited pit road, the caution flag flew for a single-car incident that trapped him a lap down. Blaney, however, received the free pass and scored ninth when the race returned to green.

Blaney couldn’t make up much ground as the race ended with a 62-lap green flag run but he was one of only two Fords to finish in the top 10. Ford is also still seeking its first win of the year with its redesigned ‘Dark Horse’ Mustang.

“It was a consistent day. I just wish we had a little bit more pace to compete like the leaders,” Blaney said. “We led a little bit early and then the track changed, and we couldn’t really keep up with it and the better cars kind of showed their muscle when the track got slick.

“Overall, we hung around the top 10 all day and I thought we could have finished anywhere between fourth to eighth, so we were right in the middle and hopefully we can learn from it a little bit.”

Blaney remains seventh in the series standings, 68 behind leader Kyle Larson, who finished runner up to race winner Denny Hamlin on Sunday.