HARTFORD Blaney spends off-time at Sharon Speedway

The NASCAR veteran would rather be behind the wheel full-time.
By JOHN BASSETTI
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
HARTFORD -- The unwelcomed vacation weeks in his NASCAR schedule have given Dave Blaney time to spend elsewhere.
One of those weeks was recently when the Nextel Cup/Busch Series driver returned to the family homestead.
Being without a steady ride in auto racing's biggest circuit, however, doesn't mean he's idle, otherwise. Blaney's time was spent working at Sharon Speedway where he's part owner.
With off days he wouldn't normally have if busy with the Bill Davis Race team in North Carolina, Blaney spent some time helping Sharon get ready for the 2004 season.
The speedway is undergoing major renovations, most noticeably a three-story grandstand with concession, loges and offices.
But he'd rather be behind the wheel full-time.
Race to race
"Realistically, getting a big sponsor to cover the rest of the year is pretty unrealistic and we know that," Blaney said of lack of support for Bill Davis' No. 23 Dodge. "It's just too late for people to spend that kind of money with no up-front time to prepare. So, we're trying to find it race-by-race or two or three races at a time, five races -- whatever, just to keep the team intact. Bill is talking to a couple people on that now."
Blaney said he's not the only Nextel driver in the same predicament.
"Jeff Burton in Roush's car doesn't have a sponsor and that's a very good team as well," he said. "There's a few like that. It's getting tougher and tougher to attract the big sponsors and keep them. We're in a mode where we're going to do all we can do every time we race to get ourselves some help."
Blaney drove the No. 23 for Davis in three of the first seven Nextel races and still stood 38th.
"If you average points per race, we're 10th. The number of points we've earned per race would put us 10th, on average. That makes you feel OK."
In the Samsung/Radio Shack 500 at Texas Motor Speedway April 4, Blaney finished 11th.
"We ran eighth to 12th most of day," he said. "Some guys got caught pitting under green; the yellow came out and they got caught a lap down and we got up to fifth.
"Then we had a little bit of a motor problem and a couple sets of tires at the end that were off that we shouldn't have put on, but did. It hurt us, but we still ended up 11th. It was a good weekend for us."
During a long race like Texas, Blaney said he had strong stretches.
"Between pit stops, a tire run or fuel run is 70 laps. We had a couple of those 70-lap runs when we were the third- or fourth-fastest car on the track," Blaney said. "You make up some ground on those runs, but you don't get all the way up front. That's the way it is.
"Guys swing back and forth; they are really fast maybe one run and a little bit off the next. It's all got to do with tires, the group you're racing around and weather and other things, but when you're that close you feel good about it."
Despite being part-time, the BDR team is competitive.
Difficult
Echoing what Jeff Gordon said recently, Blaney concurs that passing on the track has become difficult.
A lot of good teams and drivers and equal equipment make it tough. The spread from first to 30th is closer in speed than it used to be. The way teams get the most speed is to achieve a certain aerodynamic balance.
"Once you get around other cars, you can throw that balance off," Blaney said. "You can go faster by yourself than you can around a group. It didn't used to be that way years ago. That comes into play on big and fast tracks like Texas, but not on little tracks like Bristol and Richmond. It depends where you're at. If you can get out front after a pit stop at a big track, you've helped yourself a bunch."
Blaney's next Nextel Cup race will be the Aaron's 499 at Talladega, Ala., on April 25 and Charlotte after that. Whelen Engineering will sponsor Blaney at Charlotte, but he doesn't know who, if any, sponsor will be on the car at Talladega. Whelen sponsored No. 23 at Daytona.
He said a fractured schedule creates problems for the pit crew on race day.
"If we don't have someone taking care of tires, we go grab a guy out of the shop. Some guys maybe aren't used to doing the job they're doing and that hurts a little bit."
bassetti@vindy.com