RIDING WITH … Dave Blaney

Thursday: The Hartford native continued his impressive streak of late by running the 11th fastest time in qualifying for the Coca-Cola 600. Blaney’s average speed of 183.842 mph put him just .252 seconds off the pace of pole sitter Kyle Busch. Blaney will start on the inside of Row 6 Sunday, with Matt Kenseth on the outside. It marks his highest starting position of the season and his fourth straight inside the top 20.

This week: NASCAR’s premier series is at Lowe’s Motor Speedway for the Coca-Cola 600 Sunday at 5:30 p.m.. In last year’s Coca-Cola 600, Blaney qualified 31st and finished 29th and getting as high as 17th in the race. However, in the Bank of America race in October, he started 34th and finished sixth.

Vindicator, NASCAR.com