RIDING WITH … Dave Blaney

Last week: The Hartford native continued his impressive streak of late by finishing 17th at the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway Saturday night. Blaney led two laps and spent 385 of the race’s 400 laps in the top 15. He has finished in the top 20 in each of his last three races.

This week: NASCAR’s premier series is at Dover (Del.) International Speedway June 1 for the Best Buy 400. Blaney will be tested there to keep his recent hot streak going. In the last three years he’s failed to qualify in two of the six races at Dover — including last September — and in the other four his average finish is 24th. He did finish in 12th place in the September 2006 race there.

Vindicator, NASCAR.com