Blaney An Unlikely Contender Despite Qualifying Speed
1 year agoAfter barely qualifying for the NASCAR playoffs last year in a year he performed much better, Blaney easily qualified this year with a dominant win at Charlotte last spring. However, he is unlikely to contend for tomorrow's crown jewel event at Darlington despite qualifying 4th ahead of all the other Fords. Darlington is notoriously one of Blaney's weakest tracks as he has never finished better than 8th, posted a driver rating better than 100, or finished better than 13th in this race. Blaney along with his Penske teammates have slowed dramatically as Blaney's current speed percentile of 60.82% is his slowest since 2014. Although some might see value in Blaney, given his history here and his lack of speed this year, he probably will fade on Sunday.
Source: Racing Reference
Source: Racing Reference