Dave Blaney
2010 Rides: No. 55, 66 PRISM Motorsports Toyota, No. 37, 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford, No. 36 Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet
2010 Primary Sponsors: A&W All-American Foods (No. 37, 38), Andy Griffith Show 50th Anniversary (No. 37), Mohawk Northeast (No. 36)
2010 Owners: Phil Parsons (Nos. 55, 66), Bob Jenkins (No. 37, 38), Tommy Baldwin (No. 36)
2010 Crew Chiefs: Zach McGowan (No. 55), Bill Henderson (No. 66), Greg Conner, Peter Sospenzo (No. 37), Peter Sospenzo (No. 38), Kevin Buskirk (No. 36)
2010 Stats: 29 starts, 0 wins, 0 top fives, 0 top 10s, 0 poles, 37th in points
High Point: For a driver who must have thought his season was over after leaving PRISM Motorsports halfway through, finding rides with two teams afterwards, both of whom ran the distance (underfunded as they may have been) was a high point for Blaney. In a year in which he completed only eight races, finishing 24th at Atlanta – his first top 25 in nearly two years – comes a close second.
Low Point: The lowest point for Blaney came as he left PRISM Motorsports after completing only a single race and failing to qualify for six including the biggest, the Daytona 500. His final stats there were historic for all the wrong reasons: 47 starts, 45 DNFs over two seasons while never once ending a race on the lead lap.
Summary: After Bill Davis Racing folded altogether following the 2008 season, the last two years have been some nose-holding combined with paycheck cashing for Blaney. Not really much to write home about. As humble as his statistics might be, though, this season did take an upward swing after what looked like the end of the line. After leaving PRISM Motorsports due to lack of sponsorship, Blaney had accepted the fact his Cup season was over.
“It finally wore me down,” he said in August of the constant starting-and-parking. “I was going to be OK being done and not going back to any races this year, but then drivers started moving around a little and a couple seats opened up.” Blaney was then able to get behind the wheel for two teams, Front Row Motorsports and Tommy Baldwin Racing. There were no motorsport miracles to be had, but both were able to offer Blaney the chance to at least run complete races.
Team Rankings: N/A. At PRISM Motorsports, Blaney and Michael McDowell both had 17 starts in 2010, but Blaney was able to come up with a little bit more, the only one to finish a single race. Blaney ran only six races with FRM but, on average, shares similar dismal statistics with teammates such as David Gilliland and Travis Kvapil. Blaney was also one of a number of drivers for Tommy Baldwin and managed to finish as many races, three, as did teammate Mike Bliss.
Off-Track News: Blaney was involved in a car accident in early November, hitting a deer on his way home from the airport after the Texas race. He was uninjured. On a brighter note, Blaney returned to his roots and won a DIRTcar Sprint Challenge Series race in Pennsylvania in July.
2011 Outlook: Unknown at this time. Blaney ended the season driving part-time for both FRM and TBR, but neither team is planning to hire him at press time. With the Sprint Cup pickings few and far between, we could see Blaney pop up in a lesser series or start the year standing on the unemployment line.
2006 Frontstretch Grade: C+
2007 Grade: C-
2008 Grade: D
2009 Grade: N/A
2010 Grade: D
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