Blaney: Sunday's finish shows everybody "that we deserve to run up front”

The same late-race caution that disrupted what appeared to be Elliott’s near-certain first series win also provided Ryan Blaney and his No. 21 Wood Brothers team the chance to steal a win for themselves in Sunday’s race.

While most of the lead-lap cars elected to pit under the caution, Blaney, Kasey Kahne and Carl Edwards all remained on the track on older tires. The move put Blaney in the lead on the restart in overtime.

Martin Truex Jr., on new tires, quickly powered his way into the lead and on to the win but Blaney was still able to hold on to fourth, tying his career-best finish and leading a race for the first time this season.

All or nothing

“We’re in a position where we can take risks like that; we’re not in the Chase,” Blaney said. “We can stay out. I think we were seventh before that last caution. We decided to stay out and knew it was going to be tough when only a couple cars stayed out with us.

“We needed about two or three more for it to be a realistic shot. But it paid off and we finished a little bit better than what we were going to. That's a true testament of this team, not starting great but getting our car better throughout the day, taking risks like that that pay off.

“Sometimes they don't pay off. Luckily this one did. Hopefully we can do something like that for the next 10 weeks.”

Blaney’s finish was his third top-five and second in the last four races. It was also his eighth top-10 of the season. He is currently 19th in the series standings – the Wood Brothers haven’t ended a season higher than 20th in points since 1998, when Michael Waltrip ended the year 17th.

While Blaney does not have a chance to compete for the championship this season, he still believes his team’s performance on Sunday sent a message.

“It’s a good way to start the Chase,” he said, “even though we’re not in it, to show everybody that we deserve to run up front.”