Driver focused on current job, says ‘the future will work itself out’
NEWTON, Iowa — Some way or another, it seems inevitable that Ryan Blaney, currently running part-time schedules in both the Sprint Cup Series (for Wood Brothers Racing) and XFINITY Series (for Team Penske) is bound for a full-time Cup ride in 2016.
With Roger Penske only fielding two full-time Cup entries for Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano in 2015, he loaned his developmental talent to the fellow Ford organization for roughly 18 starts to get his feet wet while future plans for the son of long-time Cup driver Dave Blaney get sorted out.
As of Sunday, there have been no conversations about adding a third Cup team for Penske next season.
“There hasn’t (been any talk about a third Penske team),” Blaney said after wheeling the No. 22 to a fifth-place finish in the 3M 250 XFINITY race at Iowa Speedway. “We’re working hard at doing what we can for the future, and that’s with whatever team, you know? Our main focus is trying to finish out this year strong with the Wood Brothers.”
Talks about Blaney’s future have intensified after the 21-year-old started third and finished fourth at Talladega Superspeedway earlier this month.
An Associated Press report was published on Saturday in which Penske also confirmed that his organization isn’t currently interested in expanding to three cars, but that a full season with Blaney in the No. 21 Fusion is possible, provided that enough funding is secured.
“I’d hope there can be an extension … we’re going to run him in about 18 races, so if we can get sponsorship for him, that gives him a chance to take a look at extending that through a full season next year. That would be our goal,” Penske told the AP. “This is a partnership really with Woods’ people and ours … we’ve got the technology and the ability to build the right pieces for them. It’s like a brother-in-law.”
In the meantime, Blaney knows he can only control what happens on the race track, and his focus is on making the most of his time behind the respective wheels of both the Nos. 21 and 22.
“We’re excited to go to the (Coca-Cola) 600 next week. We’re really pumped about that,” Blaney said. “After our good run at Talladega and we tested at Charlotte and I thought it went really well; just really excited to get back there and we’re always working to get towards the future. We can definitely have wishful thinking.
“We really just focus on here and now,” said Blaney.
“I always say ‘You do your job here in the present and the stuff for the future will work itself out.'”