LONG POND, Pa. – As best friends, Ryan Blaney and Bubba Wallace have an undeniably strong bond. They have similar interests and they like to have fun away from the track. On track, they have raced each other for years across several NASCAR national and touring series as the pair worked their ways up the ladder.
Their bond is so strong that a singular date stands out as a seminal moment for each.
The date was June 11, 2017. The place was Pocono Raceway, a 2.5-mile track located in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. Bubba Wallace made his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start for the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports team – the first of four races filling in for an injured Aric Almirola and the break that would set him up for his full-time 2018 ride with the team.
Ryan Blaney was in the midst of his second full-time season driving for Wood Brothers Racing and had 67 starts to his name in NASCAR’s top series. A month earlier at Kansas, he served notice that he was knocking on the door of his first Monster Energy Series wins, starting on the pole and finishing fourth.
In Pocono, that elusive win finally came. Blaney finished strong in the race, overtaking Kyle Busch (on older tires) for the lead with 10 laps to go. He then held off a hot-pursuing Kevin Harvick for the victory. The win was the 99th for Wood Brothers, which has a technical alliance with Team Penske.
A year later, Blaney is back, but in the Penske fold this time, driving the No. 12 Ford.
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“It is always nice to come back to a place you have had success at and won at,” Blaney said. “It gives you confidence as a driver, and as a whole team everyone’s confidence is up. Obviously, you want to repeat that. You want to win every week but when you come back to a place where you have had success that definitely is nice. Especially after the last couple of weeks. We have struggled the last couple of races after having fast cars.”
The 24-year-old Blaney has had two-straight early exits in this season’s most recent points races, Kansas and Charlotte. Despite those setbacks, Blaney still ranks third among laps led this season, behind only Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick. He is 11th in the standings.
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There is a certain comfort at the Pennsylvania track for Blaney, the son of the “Buckeye Bullet,” Dave Blaney. In addition to his Monster Energy Series win here in 2017, he also earned a Camping World Truck Series win in 2013 — and essentially made his racing debut at the “Tricky Triangle.”
“I came up here and watched my dad run a lot throughout the years growing up. I made my first start in a race car at the dirt track out there outside of Turn 3. That is where I made my first quarter midget start. This place has always been special. We always have a lot of family at this race. I have enjoyed it for a long time and it suits the way we like to set up the race car and the way I drive.”
While Blaney basked in a win at Pocono last year, Bubba finished 26th in his debut – his worst finish in his four-race fill-in stint as he suffered through three pit road speeding penalties.
“It was my first time working with digital dashes and I got caught speeding,” Wallace said. “I believe two or three consecutive, back-to-back, that took us out of contention early and that was a bummer. I thought we had pretty good speed in our car. So that was the biggest thing.
“I was out doing a Mack truck appearance this morning at 8:30 and we were on pit road so I was already taking down notes and practicing pit road speed in a big Mack truck. I don’t know how that’s going to translate over,” he added with a laugh. “Any practice you get is good.”
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Wallace’s debut came after his run with Roush Fenway Racing’s Xfinity Series program was coming to a close and an uncertain future lay ahead. The 24-year-old Alabama native started 2018 strong with a runner-up finish in the Daytona 500, but has had the expected rookie growing pains ever since and now sits 23rd in the standings.
“I remember just telling myself not to do anything stupid and mess us up,” Wallace said of his 2017 series debut. “Knowing that it was kind of a tryout session because I didn’t have anything else after that.
“Now, knowing that for sure I’m racing all year long, my name is on the car this time and it’s my guys and my team. So, I’m excited about that. I think that just helps out the confidence level so much. From the start of the season, I feel like I’ve gotten better and better in the car, trying to give better feedback and trying to be a better racer and a better driver and give guys respect and earn that respect, too.”