Blaney’s Sunday drive was Father’s Day dud

The NASCAR Sprint Cup driver’s position in the owner’s points standings didn’t drop despite a parts problem just two laps into the 400-mile race at Michigan Speedway.

Vindicator staff report

HARTFORD — Dave Blaney qualified for the LifeLock 400 at Michigan Speedway on Friday the 13th.

But his bad luck didn’t strike until Father’s Day.

“It was a parts failure in the back,” the NASCAR Sprint Cup driver said of his misfortune just two laps into the 400-mile event.

“That’s terrible when it happens and it takes you out of the race completely. You don’t know what you could have done.”

After qualifying 29th and then returning to the garage, Blaney resumed racing and completed 180 laps.

For a guy who battled back to a quasi-comfortable position in the owner’s points standings in recent weeks, it was not the kind of start the Hartford native expected.

“We sure didn’t need to have a race like last weekend. Actually, I think the wrong part was put in the car. It only took a couple laps for it to fail. Just a mistake, but it cost. There are days I make mistakes and wreck the car, so it’s no different.”

His 39th place finish on June 15 wasn’t as devastating as it seemed.

“We lost some ground, but we stayed in the same position,” he said of the net effect of remaining in 29th in the standings that determine weekly race eligibility.

“It wasn’t as terrible as far as that goes,” Blaney said prior to participating in a promotional race at Sharon Speedway Tuesday. “Overall, since the first of May, we’ve been running a lot better, so we are encouraged by that.”

Blaney was asked about recent stories in which NASCAR drivers aired some gripes.

“There are so many media people at the [week of race] preparation that they just love to go find a negative story,” he said. “Yeah, there’s probably a little more complaining than normal and I think it just goes back to having the new car [Car of Tomorrow] this year. It’s different. I don’t think it races as well or doesn’t react as well and doesn’t run as fast as the other cars did. It’s just different. Everybody’s got the same thing, but sometimes it’s hard to accept the change. You’ll have cycles when the whining seems to compound the whining, but it’s no big deal at all.”

The sponsorship status of his Caterpillar No. 22 car was disrupted with Wednesday’s announcement that Caterpillar’s association will end at the conclusion of the 2008 season.

On Tuesday, Blaney said this: “Hopefully, it’ll keep going like it is — with the Cat; if it doesn’t, we’ll find something else and keep going, hopefully, but we’ve got a lot of racing to do this summer yet with the Cat car, no matter what.”

The Buckeye Bullet also responded to a question about his contract.

“I’ve just gone year to year with Bill Davis, so we’ll see,” he said.

Blaney addressed a supportive posting on a website earlier this month from a soldier — aka Blaniac — in Iraq, 20-year-old Justin Snyder of Mechanicsburg, Pa.

“We do get pictures and mail from some of the guys over there,” he said. “Everybody in NASCAR, for sure, has so much respect for all the people over there no matter how big or small. It’s a tough thing to do and they’re doing it for all the right reasons. If we hear that they like racing or they spend time enjoying races, that makes us feel good.”