RIDING WITH … Dave Blaney

By Rebecca Nieminen, Joe Scalzo, Don Shilling, Jordan Cohen | April 27, 2008 at 12:00a.m.

Saturday: The Hartford native will likely miss his first race of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Blaney managed to reach a qualifying speed of 184.943 mph at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, but that wasn’t enough to get him the 43-car field for today’s Aaron’s 499. Blaney’s speed was fast enough, but several drivers who had slower qualifying times got in the field based on their season standings (top 35). Blaney is 36th in the season standings.

Next: The Sprint Cup Series heads to Richmond (Va.) for the Crown Royal Presents the Dan Lowry 400 May 3. Lowry is a resident of New Waterford.