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Dave Blaney
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David Blaney (born October 24, 1962 in Hartford Township, Trumbull County, Ohio, United States) is a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver. He currently pilots the #66 Toyota Camry for Prism Motorsports. Blaney was a successful sprint car driver before he started racing in NASCAR. For many years, he was a regular in the Syracuse Nationals in Syracuse, New York, although he never won that event. He owns Sharon Speedway (named after nearby Sharon, Pennsylvania) in Hartford, Ohio.
ey was awarded the 1983 All-Star Sprint Circuit Rookie-of-the-Year.
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Encyclopedia
David Blaney (born October 24, 1962 in Hartford Township, Trumbull County, Ohio, United States) is a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver. He currently pilots the #66 Toyota Camry for Prism Motorsports. Blaney was a successful sprint car driver before he started racing in NASCAR. For many years, he was a regular in the Syracuse Nationals in Syracuse, New York, although he never won that event. He owns Sharon Speedway (named after nearby Sharon, Pennsylvania) in Hartford, Ohio.
Sprint car racing career
Blaney was awarded the 1983 All-Star Sprint Circuit Rookie-of-the-Year. Blaney race in the United States Automobile Club (USAC) Silver Crown Series in 1984 and won the national touring series' championship. Blaney won his first World of Outlaws (WoO) race at Tri-City Speedway in 1985 and won the Championship in 1995. In the 1997 season, he won the Gold Cup, the Eldora Speedway event, and the Knoxville Nationals, which is considered the premiere event in sprint car racing. He was the first driver who did not defend his Knoxville win, when he moved into NASCAR. After moving to NASCAR, he kept his sprint car team going, fielding a car for his
brother Dale and the late Kevin Gobrecht.
NASCAR career
Nextel Cup Series
1992
Blaney made his NASCAR Winston Cup debut in the #80 Daffron's Body Shop Ford for Hover Motorsports in the 1992 AC Delco 500, finishing 31st.
1999
In 1999, Blaney returned to the Winston Cup series with Bill Davis Racing. He ran five races in the #93 Amoco Pontiac with a best finish of 23rd at Homestead.
2000
In 2000, Blaney and his Amoco team moved up to Winston Cup full time and posted two-top tens. He would finishing third in the NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year award standings for the 2000 season.
2001-2003
In 2001, the team would switch to Dodge and he would compete in all the races with a best finish of 6th, three times. After coming close to victory in 2001, he left BDR because of sponsorship concerns and signed with the #77 Jasper Motorsports team. His best finish during the 2002 season was a 7th at Phoenix. The 2003 season started out extremely well for Blaney as he finished three of the first five races in the top ten. However, the rest of the season was a struggle and the team was only able to finish in the top ten once more during the year.
2004
Blaney returned to Bill Davis Racing in 2004 for a limited schedule, because of a lack of sponsorship. After multiple strong showings in races, including two eleventh place finishes Blaney joined Richard Childress Racing. He took over the #30 America Online Chevrolet for eight races, which included two Top-15 finishes, however when Jeff Burton became available, Childress hired Burton to drive the #30 for the remainder of the season. Blaney would also start one race for Roush Racing in the #99 Canteen Vending / Kraft Foods Ford in the place of rookie Carl Edwards, who missed the start due a Craftsman Truck Series race that ran late. Blaney exited the car on Lap 24, and Edwards went on to finish 37th after a crash. He also ran the spring race at Richmond International Raceway for Ultra Motorsports in the #7 Dodge.
2005
In 2005, he would return to Richard Childress Racing to drive the #07 Jack Daniel's Chevrolet. During the season he would post two top ten finishes and post a solid average finish of 23.4.
2006-2007
In 2006 he returned to the Bill Davis stable to run the #22 Caterpillar Dodge. Dave's best finish so far in 2006 came at the Richmond International Raceway, where he finished 4th. For 2007, Dave will be sticking with his sponsor Caterpillar and Bill Davis Racing, but will be switching to new manufacturer Toyota. So far, Dave has had good runs, but not the finishes to show for it. The year for Bill Davis and Toyota will be a trying year, and this was evident when Dave failed to qualify for the Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. On June 29, 2007, Blaney earned the first ever Budweiser Pole Award for Toyota at New Hampshire International Speedway and 2nd of his career. The pole, along with a 32nd driver points position and 35th owner points position, cemented Blaney's team as Toyota's number one team. He missed only three races so far, the lowest of any Toyota driver, and has one top-5 and 5 top-10 finishes in the 2007 season, including a third place
finish (his career best) at the UAW Ford 500 at Talladega in October, Toyota's best finish to date.
2008
His team is the only Toyota team in the top 35 in owner points (besides the Joe Gibbs teams) That guarantees a starting spot in the first 5 races of the following year. Dave Blaney's 2008 season so far has had two ninth place finishes, (Darlington, Pocono), and a DNQ at Talladega.
2009
For the upcoming season, Dave Blaney has agreed to drive the #66 Toyota for Prism Motorsports, beginning at California in February.
Sprint Cup Statistics
| Year | Starts | Wins | Top Fives | Top Tens | Poles | Rank | Team(s) |
|---|
| 2008 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 33rd | Bill Davis Racing | | Totals | 289 | 0 | 3 | 27 | 2 | 34 |
Nationwide Series
Blaney began his Nationwide Series career in 1998 with Bill Davis Racing. He signed to drive a Nationwide Series car for Davis, the #93 Amoco Pontiac and in his first season he had an impressive three sixth-place finishes and a pole position at Lowe's Motor Speedway. 1999 was even better, when his pole total rose to four and he climbed up to seventh place in the final points standings. He also finished second twice during the 1999 season. He would return to the Busch Series in 2000 with a limited schedule in BDR’s #20 AT&T Pontiac. He would gain a pole position at Charlotte and also finish 3rd twice. In 2001, Blaney would compete in one race for Bryan Goewey’s #93 team. He would finish the race last after a suspension failure. For the 2002 season he would compete in a race for Marsh Racing and the #31 Whelen Engineering Chevrolet. After starting the race in the 13th position and leading three laps he would finish 35th with an ignition problem.
He would return to the team for the 2003 season and post a best finish of 9th at Richmond. He would start out the 2004 season again with Marsh Racing’s 31 team, however after competing in three races for them they opted to switch drivers. Later in the season, Blaney would run three races for FitzBradshaw Racing with a best finish of 19th in the #14 Navy Chevrolet. In 2005, he would return to Marsh Racing and run nine races with the team. His best finish would come at Dover, a 12th place finish. For 2006, Blaney returned to Busch Series competition driving the #32 ABF U-Pack Moving Chevrolet for Braun-Akins Racing. Blaney debuted with the team at Lowe's Motor Speedway in May and finished 15th. Blaney won his first Busch Series race on October 13, 2006 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. He has returned to Braun Racing to run the entire 2007 Busch Series season with sponsorship from ABF Freight
System, Inc, Hass Avocados, Fan1st.com, and Camping World.
Craftsman Truck Series
Blaney has made two starts in the Craftsman Truck Series His first start would come in 2004 with Bill Davis Racing. He would start the #23 Toyota Tundra Toyota in 5th place at Dover and finish the race in the 6th position.
His second start was at the 2007 Ford 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway running a 4th truck for Bill Davis Racing. Blaney qualified 5th and finished 10th in the #22 Caterpillar Toyota Tundra.
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