| | | | | | 35 OR BUST | Dave Blaney looks to snare the top-35 spot for 2008 | |
| | By SceneDaily Staff Dave Blaney is hoping to leave Homestead-Miami Speedway with a little breathing room.
All season the driver and his Bill Davis Racing team have flirted with the edge of the top 35 in owners points. Blaney has been in and out of that locked-in group and is currently in the 35th position. Entering the NASCAR Nextel Cup season finale, he has a 136-point advantage over the team in 36th, the No. 21 Wood Brothers/JTG Racing Ford with driver Bill Elliott.
Barring a setback in the race, Blaney should be able to maintain his position and lock into the top 35. If he does so, he'll be guaranteed a starting spot in the opening five 2008 Sprint Cup races.
The impact of that is not lost on Blaney.
"Barring something really unexpected, we should be able to walk away next Sunday knowing we are locked into making the first five races next season, and that's huge," Blaney said. "The pressure of knowing we had to race our way into the Daytona 500 would have made for a really stressful offseason, so we're hoping all goes well this weekend. I like to think we'll start 2008 with a little better luck than we did this season and not dig ourselves into such a hole.
"All the guys on this team have worked unbelievably hard this year, and we've really been under a lot of pressure. We've had our ups and downs, and we're hoping to finish the season off on a high note."
| | Posted November 13, 2007 , 3:25 pm EST
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