SRT Motorsports – RAM NCWTS Race Advance
Jeff Foxworthy’s Grit Chips 200
Atlanta Motor Speedway
Friday, August 31, 2012
RYAN BLANEY – No. 29 Cooper Standard RAM Crew Chief: Doug Randolph
Career Stats: Starts: 1 Wins: 0 Top Fives: 0 Top 10s: 1 Poles: 0 Laps Led: 0
2012 Season Stats: Starts: 1 Wins: 0 Top Fives: 0 Top 10s: 1 Poles: 0 Laps Led: 0
• Finished sixth in NCWTS series debut last weekend at Bristol after starting fifth.
• Brad Keselowski Racing (No. 29) is seventh in the NCWTS owner point standings, 58 points behind leader Tom Deloach (No. 17) and 13 ahead of eighth-place Delana Harvick (No. 2).
• Blaney will be making his first start at Atlanta. He has three superspeedway starts this season in the NASCAR Nationwide Series (Darlington, Kentucky and Indianapolis). Will compete in a limited number of upcoming Nationwide races in Penske Racing’s No. 22 Dodge Challenger.
• One Year Ago: Parker Kligerman qualified fourth and finished 12th in the No. 29 RAM at Atlanta.
• Déjà vu All Over Again: Crew Chief Doug Randolph worked with Ryan’s father, Dave, when the elder Blaney drove for car owner Bill Davis in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
RAM DRIVER QUOTES “I’ve watched a race at Atlanta but have never raced there. They say the tires fall off a good bit and you’re running right next to the wall. I’m really looking forward to it. Brad’s (Keselowski, team owner) mile-and-a-half program has definitely been pretty strong so I’m really looking forward to it and being able to race there. I’d be happy with a good top-five finish. I definitely think our RAMS are capable. We’re just going to have to unload right and get used to the race track really quick so we can make the right adjustments on it. I think a good top five or six would be great.” — Ryan Blaney
RAM NUMBERS AT ATLANTA
• RAM has one NCWTS victory at Atlanta: Bobby Hamilton won the inaugural event in 2004 by .330 seconds over Mike Skinner.
• RAM has two top-five and eight top-10 finishes at Atlanta. Hamilton is credited with both top fives (in addition to the win in 2004, he was third in 2005 spring event.
• RAM is seeking its first pole at Atlanta.
NCWTS QUICK FACTS — ATLANTA
• There have been 12 previous truck races at Atlanta.
• Three races have been won from the pole, five from the front row.
• No race winner has started farther back than 18th.
• Qualifying Record: 182.735 mph (Rick Crawford, 3/17/05).
• The record for lead changes – 21 – was set in 2006.
RAM IN THE CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES
• Bobby Hamilton (2004) and Ted Musgrave (2005) won the season championship driving a RAM.
• RAM has captured the manufacturer’s championship three times in the 17-year history of the series – 2001, 2003 and 2004.
• Tony Raines gave RAM its first win in the series in 1997, winning at I-70 Speedway in Odessa, Mo. There have been 64 trips to victory lane since then.
• RAM won 15 of the 24 NCWTS races during the 2001 season, 13 of 25 in 2003 and 11 of 25 in 2004.
• There have been 430 races in the NCWTS beginning at Phoenix International Raceway on Feb. 2, 1995. There were three RAM drivers – Joe Bessey, Bob Keselowski and Walker Evans – in the 33-truck starting field. Bessey scored a fourth-place finish.
RAM TALK “Atlanta is fast and the tires fall off really quickly. The drivers have their hands full from lap one until the checkered flag falls. They can control a lot of wher their vehicle does by how they run the first couple of laps and how hard they abuse the tires. The one thing we like about it as racers is if you have a faster RAM at Atlanta you can pass.” — Doug Randolph, Crew Chief, No. 29 Cooper Standard RAM
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