Dave Blaney will get behind the wheel of the No. 22 Penske Dodge this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. During that time Blaney will practice and qualify the Charger which will ultimately be driven by Sam Hornish Jr on Sunday.
By having a different driver start the race then the one who qualified it the No. 22 car will have to go to the back of the field. It also means less time for Hornish to play games at partybingo.com this Sunday.
With Penske Racing focused on giving Hornish Jr the best chance to win the 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series championship the team opted not have him criss-cross around the country. The Nationwide Series race is being held at Kentucky Speedway this weekend.
“We are confident that Dave can help us get the car as prepared as possible for Sam to race on Sunday. It’ll be another ‘hop in the car and race’ situation for Sam.”
A similar situation occurred for the August race at Michigan. Despite starting in the back of the pack, Hornish ralled into the top-ten by midway and finished twelfth.
Blaney has made over 400 starts in the Sprint Cup Series dating back to 1992 and is the regular driver of the No. 36 Tommy Baldwin Chevrolet. One of Blaney’s Sprint Cup Series poles came at New Hampshire in 2007.
Due to Blaney driving the No. 22 car, Tommy Baldwin has hired Tony Raines for the No. 36 car. Blaney’s son Ryan is signed to a developmental contract with Penske Racing. He also recently won a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Iowa while driving for Brad Keselowki’s truck team. That win made Ryan the youngest ever winner in the series.
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