Blaney staying with Jasper team next season

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Despite the disappointment of crashing in the opening laps of the season finale Ford 400 Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, driver Dave Blaney has made the decision to stay at Jasper Motorsports for 2003.

	Dave Balney says things are looking up for his Jasper Motorsports team. Credit: Autostock

Blaney completed only 19 laps and finished 43rd Sunday, but despite that finished in the top-20 in points for the first time.

While that is only an incremental career step for Blaney, his 2002 performance, plus an opportunity to have a hand in structuring his No. 77 Ford team's future has made Blaney opt to stay.

"We're locked into the 77," Blaney said. "There has been a lot of stuff floating around and I've talked to a lot of people.

"Having owners that have some interest is nice, but I've got a contract with these guys. We've put together a solid year this year and we definitely have to build on it."

Blaney had been connected with possible opportunities at some of the high-profile teams in the garage, including Chip Ganassi Racing and Richard Childress Racing.

Blaney came into the season finale 19th in points, 89 clear of 20th-place Robby Gordon. His five top-10 finishes isn't a career high, but doesn't accurately reflect how well the team has run, either.

Crew chief Ryan Pemberton announced last week he would depart after Sunday's race to go to MB2 Motorsports to work with Jerry Nadeau in 2003. The building opportunity attracted Blaney.

"We're just gonna look for the best all-around guy," Blaney said. "I think the owners at Jasper want to go more toward an engineering type of guy and that kind of crew, so I think that's what they're looking for a little bit -- but I don't know. We're talking to a lot of people here and, hopefully, we'll find a guy."

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After drastically improving Jasper Motorsports' best point finish, which previously was 25th, Blaney has already begun working with team manager and co-owner Mark Harrah and the growing roster of engineers at Jasper Motorsports on postseason plans for testing and in-shop production, as well as the search for a new crew chief.

"We set some fairly high goals for the 2002 season, and we're close to reaching many of them," Blaney said.

He came into Homestead second in overall miles and laps completed among all Winston Cup drivers.

"We've put in motion a pretty aggressive move toward an even more technical approach to our program, which already had a fair amount of engineering input from our staff," Blaney said. "We've seen success with other programs this season ... that have increased their hands-on interaction between their engineering staff and their crew members.

"We've all made a pretty big commitment to each other on how we want to move forward next season. I'm comfortable with where this team is going and what we can accomplish next season."