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Move to Team Penske may help Ryan Blaney’s goal of racing in Indy 500

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Team Penske has set themselves up for success in 2018 with the addition of Ryan Blaney, who will drive the No. 12 Ford.

Answering a question from a fan, Ryan Blaney admitted on Team Penske’s Facebook Live broadcast Wednesday morning that one of his racing goals is to one day drive in the Indianapolis 500.

“I would like to do that sometime in the future,” Blaney said. “That’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”

In other words, Blaney wants to run the “double” -- racing in the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 in the same day.

“It’s obviously two great races in the same day and obviously challenging for a driver,” Blaney said. “It’s the most challenging day you can have, running 1,100 miles, not counting the flight back from Indiana to North Carolina.

“All the back and forth you go from testing for the 500, because they’re testing there for three weeks, and just going back and forth between the two different cars.

“They’re completely different, drive way different and that would be really tough to go back and forth.”

Blaney then added with a smile, “But maybe since I’m a Penske driver now, I can convince Mr. Penske to let me do it. That would be really neat, but maybe I have to win some races for him first and then maybe he’ll let me go over and do that.”

Blaney, 23, made major news Wednesday when it was announced he’ll leave Wood Brothers Racing at the end of this season and will pilot a third NASCAR Cup car – the No. 12 Ford Fusion – for Team Penske starting next season.

In a subsequent teleconference that included Blaney and Team Penske president Tim Cindric, Blaney’s Indy 500 goal caught Cindric a bit off-guard.

“I got to tune into this Facebook stuff,” Cindric laughed. “I got to get connected because I missed that one.”

Blaney admitted that he’s mentioned his interest the 500, but that’s about it.

“It’s gotten as far down the road as me talking about it,” he said. “That’s as far as it’s gotten.”

To which Cindric replied, saying with another laugh, “Hasn’t got to my room yet, but he’s got a lot of years left.”

Follow @JerryBonkowski