RIDING WITH … Dave Blaney

April 11, 2008 at 12:00a.m.

This week: The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is in Phoenix for the Subway Fresh Fit 500 Saturday night.

Last week: The Hartford native turned in a season-best finish at the Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. The driver of the No. 22 Toyota Caterpillar started 22nd and had a good day, finishing 21st despite being two laps off the leader at race end. Blaney’s had a good history at TMS, with an average finish of 22 in 11 career starts there. He’s had one top 10 finish, two top 20 finishes and twice finished 21st.

Season to date: Blaney improved one spot in the standings, to 37th place, with 473 points. He’s just 90 points, though, behind Mark Martin in 30th place.

Vindicator, nascar.com