Ryan Blaney set for Martinsville, must-see Wood Brothers Racing open house
Ryan Blaney had to face the media at Martinsville Speedway on Friday, but that was nothing.
He was expecting to face a much bigger, more boisterous crowd a few hours later during an open house at the Wood Brothers Racing museum in Stuart, Va., located less than 30 miles from Martinsville. The open house was scheduled for 6:30 p.m.- 9 p.m. Friday evening, and Blaney, rookie driver of the Wood Brothers' No. 21 Ford this season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, said he had no illusions about who everyone would be coming to see.
"They aren't coming out to see me, that's for sure," Blaney said during his media availability session at the Martinsville track on Friday. "They're going to come out to see the Wood Brothers. I'm just going to be there to shake their hands. They're the main stars up here in Virginia."
The Wood Brothers, NASCAR's oldest team, first began running races out of the Stuart, Va., shop in 1950 and did so for the next 53 years before moving to the Charlotte, North Carolina area to be closer to where most of the rest of the NASCAR teams and vendors are located.
After two years in Mooresville, N.C., the organization moved in 2005 to its current home in Harrisburg, N.C., just minutes away from Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The Stuart shop, in the meantime, was turned into a museum that is a must-see for all NASCAR fans. Thus, an open house at Wood Brothers Racing usually is well attended.
"The last time they did this, they had about 5,000 people come out, so I'm excited to meet everybody and have everyone come out and to sign some autographs," Blaney said. "It's going to be fun."
Blaney hopes to add to the fun for fans of the No. 21 by performing well in the STP 500 at the .526-mile Martinsville short track on Sunday. This is the first season the Wood Brothers have fielded a full-time car in the Sprint Cup Series since 2008 and will be the first time since 2011 the organization has put one of its cars on the Martinsville track.
"It's nice to be back at pretty much their home track," said Blaney, who is off to a solid start this season, sitting 17th in points heading into Sunday's event. "I grew up 45 minutes away in High Point, North Carolina and I would come to this race every years and watch my dad (former driver Dave Blaney) and watch the trucks (race). I just thought it was such a cool place.
"It's really neat to be able to run a Cup car, let alone the 21 car over here. That just kind of adds to the special factor."
