Blaney set for busy season

The driver from Trumbull County gets a fresh start because his team is tied to a new manufacturer.
By JOHN BASSETTI
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
HARTFORD -- Professional sports aren't shy about declaring an "official (put product here)" of anything.
There's probably an official oil, an official drink, an official tire, an official religion, etc. of NASCAR.
For Dave Blaney for 2007, there should be an official stamina product.
More specifically, a stamina product to help the Hartford native handle a full-time schedule in both Nextel Cup and Busch series.
"I've never done it before, running both at the same time," Blaney said recently. "That's a lot of racing and, in one way, it could wear you out. But on the other hand, you've got an opportunity to learn a lot running that Busch car that might transfer and help your Cup car. Hopefully, we could take advantage of that."
More new twists
That's one of several new twists for the upcoming stock car racing season.
In addition to 36 Cup races and 35 Busch events, Bill Davis Racing, Michael Waltrip Racing and Red Bull Racing are the three full-time Toyota teams.
Blaney, who finished 26th in points for 2006 while driving BDR's No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge, said that the nuances of racing a Dodge won't carry over.
"The first couple months, we lacked speed anywhere. We were especially hurting on the big tracks. We felt we got fairly competitive the last third of the year. We had, at least most of the time on the short tracks, a car capable of running in the top 10. We learned something about the cars, engines and a lot of little things, but we pretty much have to scrap all that because of the move to Toyota."
Not having Dodge factory support last year hurt BDR, somewhat, but that won't be the case for 2007.
"We got way more support," Blaney said. "Toyota's doing a great job of developing their engines, cars and bodies, so we should have a head start. They enable us to go wind-tunnel testing all the time with these bodies, so you keep improving them every time you go back. That was something we didn't have last year."
Good company
Toyota, the Japanese automaker projected to exceed any U.S. counterpart in sales in 2007, grabbed its share of the worldwide market in recent years by focusing on fuel efficiency and hybrids, while the "Big Three" chose to develop SUVs and pick-ups.
The Cat 22 team's crew is pretty much the same as 2006, with Kevin Hamlin as crew chief.
"I had a lot of confidence in our group," said Blaney, who earned 3.4 million last year. "They did a good job. There was no problem on that side of it."
This year's team is really deep.
"I shouldn't say we have better people, but we have more good people on board. Tommy Baldwin is coming in and he's been crew chief for a lot of wins and he's kind of overseeing both BDR teams."
The driver who grew up in Trumbull County said that his new car won't be much different from any other.
"It's a purpose-built NASCAR engine by Toyota, but you can't tell a Toyota from any other make, too much. It does have the Camry front and rear sections. It's as much Toyota as the others are Chevy or Ford."
The No. 22 paint scheme isn't much different, either.
On Oct. 13 at Charlotte, Blaney recorded his first NASCAR victory, albeit at the Busch level.
Parents saw victory
"That was a good one," Blaney said of the Dollar General 300 in Concord, N.C. "It was one of the few ones my parents were at all year. It was fun they got to enjoy it, too."
It was his first win since his days on the World of Outlaws circuit.
"I felt like it was about time," said Blaney, who will turn 43 in January.
Another "first" will be the appearance of the Car of Tomorrow in 16 Nextel races.
"It's a completely different style than the normal Cup car," Blaney said the two different programs. "So it's a different angle."
Standard stock cars will be used in the other 20 Cup events.
Once again, optimism oozes at this time of year, but a switch in manufacturers should spell some improvement.
They've hired a bunch of engineers, just a lot of help because we can afford to do that now. I have a really good teammate in Jeremy Mayfield and it's all new Toyotas whereas last year we were stuck running the same car Scott Wimmer ran the year before. We're optimistic with what we're seeing this time of year. I hope it translates into better results every Sunday."
bassetti@vindy.com