LAS VEGAS -- It was a happy day for Wood Brothers Racing driver Ryan Blaney as the Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate finished sixth in the Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, his best showing through three races in 2016.
That it came on a day when Team Penske -- which has a technical alliance with Wood Brothers Racing -- finished 1-2 with Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano made it more meaningful.
Since the teams joined forces in late 2014, Blaney has gone from a developmental driver, to part-time, to full-time in the No. 21 Ford and has learned a lot from his Penske peers.
"Our cars are extremely fast and the Wood Brothers do a great job, and we can't thank Penske enough for their support," Blaney said. "You see the 2 car won the race and the 22 finished second; we were right there. The teams are growing together and learning and so am I, so hopefully this is a good way to get our season going, here."
Beginning in 2012, for 58 races Blaney piloted the No. 29 in the Camping World Truck Series, a truck owned by Keselowski. The Kobalt 400 victor began his mentoring of Blaney then.
"He drove my truck for a while, so there was a lot of mentoring there," Keselowski said. "Mostly over the form of, 'Please don't wreck it, I can't afford to fix it.' Now I think he's got the right people around him with (No. 21 crew chief) Jeremy Bullins and the Wood Brothers and a lot of help and support there. I'm certainly willing to help him whenever I can, but I don't think he needs me. I just think he needs some time."
Blaney started the 2016 season qualifying seventh for the Daytona 500, a restrictor-plate track where he's shown strength. However, with his 19th-place finish there, followed by his 25th-place finish last week at Atlanta, his Las Vegas run was more on-par with where many expected the 22-year-old to be as a full-time Sprint Cup Series driver.
"Especially after Atlanta last week, getting spun out on the last lap, that kind of got us down a lot," Blaney said. "To come here and have a solid run all day really ups the team's spirits."
Blaney and the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing team head to Phoenix International Raceway next weekend, a 1-mile track that the driver has never raced at in NASCAR's elite series.