NASCAR: Strategy pays off for Blaney

A late-race strategy call placed Ryan Blaney and the Wood Brothers in position to win their first race together on Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway. But cars with newer tires got around the Sprint Cup rookie and forced him to accept a fourth-place finish.

Blaney was running seventh at the time of the final caution with five laps to go and opted to remain on older tires. He had only pitted roughly 20 laps prior and crew chief Jeremy Bullins thought it was worth trying; they were joined on that strategy by Kasey Kahne and Carl Edwards.

In the end, Blaney earned a net gain of three positions.

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"We were just trying to hold those guys off," Blaney said after the race. "I was hoping a couple more cars stayed out than that but it was worth a shot and we came home with a better finish than we would have otherwise.

"We weren't in contention for the win all race. We were fast, don't get me wrong, we were probably a fifth- to eighth-place car. The last caution came out and we were seventh and thought that's where we'd end up. Staying out was worth a shot. We had nothing to lose. Why not do it? If two more cars stayed out, we might have had a better shot."

Blaney started from 22nd and quickly found himself 15th by the end of the first lap. He was just outside the top 10 at halfway and was a top-five contender with 30 laps to go. He led his first eight laps of the season and was pleased with the results.

The result tied his best finish of the year with a fourth-place last month at Michigan.

"I thought we had a shot, but those guys on new tires were so fast," Blaney said when asked how he felt about leading the race. "That was a good day for us. We had a fast car all day. We had to overcome some stuff to get back to the front. It was worth a shot."

Blaney was the best-finishing driver not part of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.