Pennsylvania has been good to Blaney, crew

LONG POND, Pa. — Ryan Flores may be from a New Jersey shore town, Manasquan near Point Pleasant, but he’s also quite fond of Pennsylvania. Why not? Flores was the big winner last Dec. 30-31 at Allentown’s PPL Center, winning two three-quarter midget series races in the Len Sammons Indoor Auto Racing Series.

Then on June 11, he was a key member of Ryan Blaney’s pit crew at Pocono Raceway when Blaney outdueled Kevin Harvick late for his first career win on NASCAR’s Monster Energy Cup circuit.

Flores and Blaney will be back in Monroe County this weekend, looking for a Monster Energy sweep at the Tricky Triangle.

Blaney is trying to become the eighth driver to win both NASCAR Cup races at Pocono in the same summer, joining Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Bobby Labonte, Tim Richmond, Bill Elliott and Bobby Allison.

If the 23-year-old Blaney, who made news Wednesday by announcing he’ll drive for Team Penske in 2018, is going to return to Victory Lane on Sunday, Flores will play a key role.

He’s a front tire changer on Blaney’s pit crew.

“The last race at Pocono was special and it started by me and my dad [Mark] driving together to the track just like we’d do if we were going to Mahoning Valley, Phoenixville or Allentown,” Flores said. “Living in Charlotte, I don’t get to go home much, but that was a really cool way to start the day and to win in front of so many family and friends was really great.”

The 29-year-old Flores has great respect for Allentown and its history with Dorney Park Speedway from 1938 to 1986. He also knows all about tracks such as Mahoning Valley, Grandview and more.

“There’s really no better short-track racing crowd than in Pennsylvania, especially that area,” Flores said. “It was cool to become a part of that history by winning those races at the PPL Center.”

Flores said he knows Allentown has embraced the indoor racing scene.

“The first time we were there, which would have been January of 2016, the PPL Center was sold out,” he said. “This past year, being that we were there on New Year’s Eve, the crowd was down a little bit but it was still an awesome atmosphere.”

Flores said the track inside PPL Center is challenging because the concrete is different from one corner to the other.

“At the end of the day, you’re basically racing around on a concrete warehouse floor,” he said. “But it’s a nice venue and being that so many of the fans there also saw races at Dorney Park, made it more special.”

Flores went on to win the series championship at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City a few weeks later.

He said the thought of racing in NASCAR has occasionally crossed his mind, but he loves what he is doing for a rising star like Blaney in the sport’s biggest stage.

“I do what I do in the winter at places like Allentown to be with my family and do what I’ve done with them since I was five years old,” he said. “You grow racing together, and working together, and then you get into racing for a living and you don’t get to share those times anymore. Your job pulls you away.