RIDING WITH … Dave Blaney


October 10, 2008 at 12:00a.m.

RIDING WITH … Dave Blaney

This weekend: Blaney will start in 31st position for Saturday’s Bank of America 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. Thursday’s qualifying was rained out so drivers were assigned positions based on point standings. Saturday’s TV coverage begins at 7 p.m. on WTYV (33).

Last weekend: The Hartford native started 29th and for a while was flirting with a top 10 finish in the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway before he got caught up in the “big one,” a huge multi-car wreck on lap 174 that sent him to the pits for repairs. Blaney ended up 22nd, 14 laps short of the finish, when his engine stopped.

Season to date: “The Buckeye Bullet” is in 31st place in the Sprint Cup series standings. He’s 20 points behind Reed Sorenson and 54 behind Michael Waltrip, who sits 29th.

Staff report