NASCAR: The Five Biggest Mid-Season Surprises Of 2016

#5 – No. 21, Ryan Blaney – Wood Brothers Racing

When the season began, Wood Brothers Racing was not granted one of the 36 NASCAR charters despite much public sentiment that they should have been.  In typical Wood brothers fashion, they and driver Ryan Blaney accepted the rules that were given to them and have approached needing to qualify on speed each weekend with a “can do” attitude.  It has been refreshing to see a team go out and earn it without any sense of entitlement.

Blaney has an average finish this year of 16.9 and has completed all but 20 laps so far.  For a rookie in this series, that is amazing, particularly completing 99.6% of the laps.  He has been in the top-15 finishers in eight races.  Particularly impressive is that if the Chase field was to be set right now, he would be in on points, further demonstrating his consistency.

Earlier this season, this author predicted that Blaney would score his first win at Indianapolis in July.  I hold to that prediction.  The strength lately of Ford engines will stand out on Indy’s long straightaways and Blaney’s skills on relatively flat tracks such as Pocono (10th-place finish) suit him well to Indy’s configuration.

Next: #4 - Domination Has Been Re-Defined