Blaney’s victory bodes well for Penske

Cup rookie goes for Dover double today as 2018 ride awaits.

Ryan Blaney crashed the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs with a dominant victory Saturday at Dover International Speedway. Today he has a good chance to advance to the second round of the Cup playoffs when the field is cut from 16 to 12.

Blaney, 23, won for the second time in nine Xfinity starts this season while driving the No. 22 Ford for team owner Roger Penske. He led 136 of 200 laps.

Blaney will start 11th today at Dover, and he sits eighth in the playoff standings.

He’s one of the young drivers who have broken through this season, his first as a fulltime Cup driver. His victory at Pocono Raceway in June was the first of his career.

Though he drives for Wood Brothers Racing, he signed with Penske in 2012 and is scheduled to drive a third Cup car for the team next season, joining Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano.

Blaney, who was allowed to be in an Xfinity playoff race because he has less than five years of Cup experience, took his checkered flag Saturday and slipped it through a fence to give to a young fan. Blaney recalled he was once that same excited kid when he tagged along at the track as the son of former NASCAR driver Dave Blaney and grandson of dirt track star Lou Blaney.

“He seemed really pumped up to be at the race,” Blaney said. “There was a lot of kids here today, which is really cool. I kind of saw a little bit of myself. Anything we can do to try to keep them coming back and show them a pretty great experience at the track.”

Justin Allgaier finished second and leads the playoff standings by three points over JR Motorsports teammate William Byron, who finished third.

Formula One: Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won the pole position for today’s Malaysian Grand Prix, while title rival Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari quit early in qualifying after losing power on a straightaway. Vettel will start last, putting Hamilton in position to improve his 28-point edge with five races left after today.