Analysis: Ryan Blaney building momentum, inching toward Victory Lane

DOVER, Del. -- Heading into Monday's race at Dover Motor Speedway, Ryan Blaney and Miles the Monster weren't exactly the best of friends. In 12 prior starts, Blaney netted just two top 10s; eighth-place finishes in both 2016 and 2018. With the No. 12 Team Penske driver currently in the midst of a 56-race winless streak, Dover wasn't exactly considered his best opportunity for a strong run. And yet the 29-year-old shined in Monday's rain-delayed NASCAR Cup Series race at the concrete, 1-mile oval. Per NASCAR's scoring loop data, his 3.39 average running position was second-best to William Byron's 3.34 and No. 12 walked away with a third-place result to reflect it. MORE: Dover results | Cup standings Not bad for a guy who hadn't finished better than 11th in his last seven Dover starts. "I feel like we've struggled here for the last four or five years," Blaney said. "I feel like just kind of as an organization, I feel like we've just never really been able to hit it very good. We worked super hard this year and this offseason trying to get better at Dover, and we definitely did that. So hopefully, we learned something for the future. "Really proud of the effort, honestly, for running how we did today. It was a lot worse last year, so I've got to be proud of the improvements even though you don't win the race." That 56-race winless streak did extend to 57, but Blaney was in contention late for the second week in a row. Following a runner-up performance at Talladega Superspeedway, Blaney and Martin Truex Jr. -- battling a 54-race drought himself -- took two tires along with pre-race points leader Christopher Bell on the final pit stop with 11 laps to go. RELATED: Truex brothers hit home-track home runs with Dover sweep "It was either two calls -- you either stay out or take two tires," Blaney said. "Four (tires) bit us before, and there were so few cars on the lead lap, and there were gonna be so little laps to go, so it was like, 'Well, let's take two.' I almost stayed out, but I don't know if that would've won me the race or not. Two was a good call. It put us on the front row and gave us a shot to win the race. Just, I can't drive any deeper into (Turn) 3 without wrecking both of us." Indeed, the final restart saw Blaney low and Truex high at the green flag with seven laps to go. The two drivers managed to stay even for the next lap and a half and nearly collided at the exit of Turn 2, but Truex powered into Turn 3 in the outside lane to clear Blaney's No. 12 Ford and snap his winless streak. "Off of 2, he got tight and had to bail out of the gas, and we about touched," Truex said. "It got really, really close to making contact. He had to bail out of the gas, and that was the end of the story. You know, I have always really enjoyed racing with Ryan. We've raced really hard together, really clean, never had any issues, and he's a great driver. "Hate that I had to be the one to steal it from him or keep his winless streak going, but I'm just happy we came out on the right end of it today." Blaney's day appears fast approaching. He's finished seventh, second and third in the past three races and all at different styles of tracks -- Martinsville, a 0.526-mile flat short track; Talladega, a 2.66-mile superspeedway behemoth; and the 1-mile high banks of Dover. Next up: Kansas Speedway, a 1.5-mile tri-oval where Blaney has three top fives and seven top 10s in 16 starts.