NASCAR Trucks: Blaney Pips Quiroga in Mosport Thriller

Courtesy of BK Racing

I’m gonna lay my cards on the table – anyone who still believes at this point that road courses should not be in NASCAR needs to stop reading, close your laptop, and sod off.

I honestly can’t see how anyone other the hardest of the hardcore purists can still hold this view. Especially as three of the finest races across all three divisions this season have been on tracks with left and right corners – something a lot of naysayers say NASCAR can’t do. First we had the variable conditions and anarchy at Road America, then one of the all-time great scraps between AJ Allmendinger and Marcos Ambrose at Watkins Glen. Now, add Mosport 2014 to the list.

At the drop of the green flag, the initial pace-setters were home heroes Alex Tagliani and Andrew Ranger, along with sensational youngsters Cole Custer, Gray Gaulding and Erik Jones. Ranger was particularly impressive considering his resources – a cobbled together old Ram truck and a pitcrew so slow you could grow an entire beard in the time it took them to change right-side tires. And yet he persisted in the early going.

Road course races in NASCAR usually follow a set pattern, with teams calmly playing out their chosen pit strategies in a game of musical chairs to see who would be in with a shot to win in the last quarter. Not much different to oval racing, granted, but generally being a road course there are less cautions to reset the field and strategies. As was the case here – the first 3/4s of the race were trouble-free. It was here Ryan Blaney played his hand; as most people around him went to pit twice, he would only pit once, dead on lap 29 of 64. It was high risk, high reward, and needed several cautions (but crucially no Green-White-Chequers) to work. But for a guy starting outside the top 10 on the day, with little road course experience and a championship battle to win against veterans both starting ahead of him, it was a move worth taking.

Then as the race entered the final quarter came the incidents. The caution Blaney was looking for came as John Hunter Nemechek’s truck lost power and coasted to a halt. On the restart Tagliani went into full attack mode, but the approach which worked so spectacularly at Road America backfired here – firstly punting Custer around at the tight Turn 5/6, then spinning himself out and stalling out there a lap later, prompting a second caution in quick succession.

With ten to go the green flag flew again, and the top five divided into two battle packs – Blaney and surprise package German Quiroga, then Gaulding, Jones and Ranger in a fierce battle. Blaney’s luck seemed to be holding, but what he didn’t need with fuel on the wane was the ante being upped.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what Quiroga did. Lap after lap, bumper to bumper like some eight-wheeled train rattling through the rollercoaster that is Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Blaney and Quiroga went faster and faster still. This was not a beat-and-bash-’em-up scrap, and for that the drivers should be commended. With laps winding down and Blaney offering a sold wall of resistance, Quiroga could’ve been tempted to lay the bumper – especially considering a BKR truck (granted, driven by Tyler Reddick on the day) ruined his day at Pocono a few rounds ago. But he refused; and for that he deserves respect.

And it came so close to paying off.

The white flag dropped, and still Blaney’s Ford kept motoring on with fuel in the tank. GWCs were now out of the equation, and with Blaney not looking like running out of fuel any time soon, Quiroga had to make the move. A slipstream on the Andretti Straight took Quiroga alongside Blaney, and both trucks hung side-by-side through the esses, knuckles white in the cockpits. Quiroga edged ahead and snatched the inside for the all-important final turn, where Ty Dillon’s race ended in dramatic fashion last year. But Blaney remained patient and nailed the apex, running up alongside once again – and pinching it back by a nose at the flag. Not once did either truck touch the other.

No, this wasn’t for a Chase spot. But in a Championship still decided by who has the most points at the end of the season (remember that? What a dated novelty), this was what Blaney needed to regain the initiative in a tight battle with grizzled ThorSport duo Sauter and Matt Crafton, who both had solid top-10 runs. And whilst Quiroga didn’t win, he can leave with head held high after several have questioned his ability so far this year. Ultimately both showed huge commitment, skill and desire to win a race – something Brian France believes race drivers don’t have enough of these days, and only a gimmicky golden ticket to the post-season hung like a carrot from a stick will resolve this.

Case closed, I think.

Race Results:

1. #29 Ryan Blaney (Brad Keselowski Racing Ford)
2. #77 German Quiroga (Red Horse Racing Toyota)
3. #51 Erik Jones (Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota)
4. #20 Gray Gaulding (NTS Motorsport Chevrolet)
5. #53 Andrew Ranger (NDS Motorsport RAM)
6. #88 Matt Crafton (ThorSport Toyota)
7.  #9 Brennan Newberry (NTS Motorsport Chevrolet)
8. #98 Johnny Sauter (ThorSport Toyota)
9. #00 Cole Custer (Haas Racing Development Chevrolet)
10. #17 Timothy Peters (Red Horse Racing Toyota)

Other Notables:

12. #54 Darrell Wallace Jr (Kyle Busch Motorsport Toyota)
16. #19 Alex Tagliani (Brad Keselowski Racing Ford)
17. #13 Jeb Burton (ThorSport Toyota)
22. #6 Norm Benning (Norm Benning Racing Chevrolet)