Long Pond, PA – Ryan Blaney claimed his second career win in the Camping World Truck Series after passing German Quiroga on a restart with two laps to go in Saturday's race at Pocono Raceway.
Blaney, who is the 19-year-old son of Sprint Cup Series veteran Dave Blaney, grabbed the lead from Todd Bodine following a restart on lap 47. Bodine fell back in the field before he bumped into James Buescher and spun out, forcing the first green-white-checkered finish attempt. The scheduled 50-lap, 125-mile race at Pocono was extended to 54 laps.
Quiroga, the pole sitter, passed Blaney for the top spot after the restart on lap 50. Ty Dillon, Johnny Sauter and Dominick Casola were involved in an accident on the back straightaway, which led to the second two-lap overtime finish. During the final restart, Blaney quickly pulled ahead of Quiroga and took the lead for good.
"It's hard to stay in front if you're the leader for a restart," said Blaney, who led a race-high 20 laps. "You're just kind of a sitting duck, and everyone lays back. I was fortunate enough to get a good restart at the end."
Blaney crossed the finish line 0.3 seconds ahead of Miguel Paludo, who had passed Quiroga for second. Blaney's first victory in the series came in September 2012 at Iowa, in just his third start. He drives the No. 29 Ford for Brad Keselowski Racing this season. Keselowski, the defending Sprint Cup champion, missed the Pocono truck race since he was en route to Iowa Speedway for Saturday night's Nationwide Series event there.
Paludo's second-place run marked his best finish in trucks.
"I had a shot on the last restart, but unfortunately, I couldn't get a run on (Blaney)," Paludo said. "Second-place is huge for our team. We've been struggling a little bit with bad luck, but we are super strong this year."
Quiroga matched his career-best finish of third.
"I went to the front, and it was half-easy I would say, but then I couldn't keep the lead," Quiroga said. "It was a good day for us and a good day for points."
Joey Coulter, who won this race one year ago, finished fourth, while Ross Chastain took the fifth spot.
Ron Hornaday Jr., Darrell Wallace Jr., Matt Crafton, Brendan Gaughan and Brennan Newberry finished sixth through 10th, respectively. Wallace was penalized on the opening lap for changing lanes before the green flag had waved. He had to make his way back from the tail end of the field.
Bodine, who drove the No. 30 Chevrolet for Turner Scott Motorsports in this race, ended up finishing 11th. He had led 16 laps before giving up the top spot to Blaney.
Crafton widened his points lead to 52 over Jeb Burton, who finished 12th. With the win, Blaney moved from eighth to third in the standings (-62).
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