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Ryan Blaney looks to add another road course win to his resume

Ryan Blaney

Ryan Blaney has become quite the road racing fan - and he’s not too bad behind the wheel, either.

He won last year at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in a Camping World Truck Series race.

Today, Blaney is hoping to earn his first Xfinity Series road course win at Road America in central Wisconsin.

“I’m really excited for my first Xfinity start here at Road America,” Blaney said during media session Friday afternoon at the track. “It’s one of the really, really neat road courses they’ve gone to. I’ve watched it over the past handful of years and it really puts on a real good race.’'

He looks to follow in the team’s success with the No. 22 car for Team Penske. AJ Allmendinger won this race for Penske in 2013, and Alex Tagliani finished second last year.

“I’m really excited to see what we can do, how it drives and how it feels,’' Blaney said. “I love road racing, no matter where it is. If I wasn’t here, I’d go to Canada and drive Brad (Keselowski’s) truck again.”

The Truck Series is races Sunday at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Road America is one of the premier road courses in North America. This will be the sixth straight year that the Xfinity Series has raced on the 4-mile track.

Previous winners have been Carl Edwards, Reed Sorenson, Nelson Piquet Jr., Allmendinger and Brendan Gaughan in last year’s race.

“Every win means a lot to you, but when you can come and do it on a road course, that’s something so unique that you can only do it once this year and some place you don’t go to very much,’' Blaney said.

“It’s just a really cool thing to do and you see a lot of different drivers towards the front, which is cool, plus you see some ringers like Boris (Said), Justin Marks and Andy Lally. So, it’s pretty cool and running on a road course is a lot of fun, so it’s kind of a little bit of bragging rights if you can win on one.”

One other thing Blaney is looking forward to today is, surprisingly enough, rain. The forecast includes the chance for rain, something Blaney has never run in before.

If that happens, it would mark the second straight year that the race would have been run at least partly under wet conditions.

“I think it’s going to be fun,” Blaney said. “It always throws a neat element to it.”

Follow @Jerry Bonkowski