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NASCAR PRESEASON THUNDER TESTINGJanuary 13, 2014Ryan BlaneyDAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA MATT HUMPHREY: We are joined now by Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 29 Cooper Standard Ford for Brad Keselowski Racing, today driving the No.19, taking some laps in that truck. Just talk about your thoughts coming in here getting ready for the NextEra Energy Resources 250 here at Daytona and what Daytona means to you. RYAN BLANEY: You know, that's obviously a pretty big race for everyone in all three series. You really want to start out your year good and on a good note. It's important to come out here and try to have a good run and stay out of the trouble. Especially for the trucks since we have a new nose and tail this year, it's been pretty big for us to come down here and try to find as much speed as we can and try to learn as much as we can about this new truck that we have and to get my new teammate Tyler Reddick familiar with the Superspeedway stuff, and I think we're going to draft a little bit here after lunch in about a half an hour. It's one of the biggest races and it's fun to come down here and kind of experience the whole week out here. Q. What kind of situation does a new truck put your team in, a smaller team? Are you behind in making them, cranking them out, or what kind of situation does it put you in? RYAN BLANEY: I wouldn't say we're behind in making them. We only brought one truck here. That's just because if we think that if this truck can improve, we can go back and build another one with the improvements to it, better than bringing two trucks here and tearing both of them apart and having to put a new body on them. I wouldn't say we're behind, it's just kind of being smart and not wasting two trucks really if we think we can improve on this one. I think my team has really been really prepared for this year, a lot more prepared than we were for 2013, I think. We were kind of behind the 8‑ball going into 2013, and it took us a while to really get going, and I think this year we're a lot more prepared, and that's just better for firing off good and starting the season off the way we need to. Q. With NASCAR allowing teams to use a mixture of '13 and '14 trucks, are you going to use all new this year or some old ones, as well? RYAN BLANEY: I think we're going to go all new this year. We've been in the tunnel and we've seen how much improvements they are, how much faster they are, just how much better downforce they are and all that stuff. We're planning on using all brand new trucks, except for the Eldora race. We're going to use an old one for that race. But as far as everyone else that goes, we're going to go with the new 2014 stuff. Q. Are you worried at all with you guys being the lone Ford team that you guys might be a little bit behind as far as the other manufacturers, Toyota, Chevrolet? RYAN BLANEY: Not really. I think we were kind of in that spot last year. We were the lone Ford, and people thought we were kind of going to struggle, and we did in the beginning of the year. But halfway through the year we were really strong and able to almost go out and win every single race. I don't think it's any different this year. I think Ford has done an awesome job for us. They've really stepped up their improvement for us on the racing side, and that's really cool to see because they haven't really had a big impact in the Truck Series for a while, and even that last year in 2013 they didn't show us a ton of support, but this year they've really stepped it up, and with their help and Penske's help, I think we're really ahead of where we need to be, and I think that's just going to let us compete a lot better with the KBMs and ThorSports, and there's no more RCR, but I think it's just going to put us in a better spot earlier in the season to put us in a better spot in the long run. Q. How much input have you gotten from Brad over the last couple of years since you've joined forces with him? RYAN BLANEY: You know, he's helped a lot. Brad is a good guy. He'll tell you what he's thinking, whether good or bad, and I've always liked that. It's the kind of relationship I've always had with my dad. He's always told me what he thinks, whether it's a good thought or what I need to do to improve. It's been good working for Brad to kind of learn from him. He's a really good teacher, and he'll let you know what he thinks, like I said. One thing that I really like about Brad is you ask him something, he'll kind of give you half the answer but the other half you've got to figure out yourself, and I think that's the best way of learning something on and off the racetrack. Yeah, there's maybe some bad habits I've picked up from him, some of the off‑track stuff, but it's always good to have him there and get his opinion, and racing‑‑ having a driver as a boss has been really good because you can talk to him easy and he knows what's going on. It's just like KBM; they can really feed off of Kyle, and the same with Brad. MATT HUMPHREY: Ryan, thank you for joining us today, and good luck this season. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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