The Motorcraft/Quick Lane Racing team heads to Martinsville Speedway for this weekend’s STP 500 fresh off its third top-10 finish of the season and with a driver sitting seventh in the points standings.
Ryan Blaney will be out to improve on his 2016 19th-place finish at the Wood Brothers’ home track, his first outing there in a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series car.
The Wood Brothers’ young gun overcame numerous challenges last weekend at Fontana to secure a ninth-place result, which kept him firmly in the top 10 in the 2017 driver standings.
Like every other team, the Motorcraft/Quick Lane crew will change gears from one of the series’ fastest and longest intermediate circuits to its smallest and slowest.
RYAN BLANEY
On Martinsville Speedway:
“Historically, this hasn’t been my best race track, but it means a lot. For the Wood Brothers, it’s a home race for them and it’s my crew chief’s favorite race track, so that’s given a lot of extra incentive and I thought we’ve gotten a lot better here over the last couple of years. I know what we need and we’ll try to run up further toward the front, so it’s just all about putting 500 laps together, saving the car and just trying to stay out of trouble the whole race.”
“One of the biggest things you fight here is staying calm and patient. All drivers at some point in the race will get frustrated and whether they act upon it or not is up to them. We try to stay as emotionless as possible. I think that’s the best thing to do and try and keep a cool head.”
“I think the biggest thing here is qualifying up front to make sure you’re up front at the beginning of the race and try and stay there. That’s where it’s the cleanest and away from trouble. That’s something that we’ve put a big emphasis on, trying to qualify up front at this place, so you’re not mid-pack, that’s where things go down. That’s half the battle here.”
Ford Performance PR
