The Wood Brothers Racing team is the NASCAR epitome of old school. How old school? Patriarch Glen Wood, 92, still uses videotape to record races to re-watch later.
Ryan Blaney leads venerable Wood Brothers Racing into championship contention
Ryan Blaney, 23, is one of eight drivers who’ve advanced to the semifinal round of the Cup Series playoffs, which begins Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.
Yes, videotape. As in the tapes you would put into a VCR. Wood analyzes each race to offer feedback to his sons, Eddie and Len, who run the single-car team that fields an entry for Ryan Blaney, one of eight drivers in the semifinal round of the Cup Series playoffs that begins Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.
“He watches every race,” Eddie Wood said. “He actually still tapes them. I’m not talking about with a DVR, I’m talking about with the VCR. He’s still got a machine and he’ll go back and analyze it and talk to us about it.
“He never duplicates or never tapes over one he’s already got. He just gets new ones. I didn’t know you could still buy them.”
Glen Wood’s advice isn’t cursory, but actually tangible. Eddie Wood recalls a race where the No. 21 car ran out of fuel, and his father questioned the team’s decision making.
“We ran out of fuel somewhere and he was like, ‘Did you all think you were at Darlington?’” Eddie Wood said. “It’s a mile-and-a-half and you can run longer there, so he keeps up with it just as much as we do.
“He and our mom both are just very excited about it. It’s something new. We haven’t been in this position ever, really. I think it’s just as new for them as it is us, but we’re just thankful to be here.”
Since being founded in 1950, the Wood Brothers are one of NASCAR’s most successful teams, winning 99 races -- including five Daytona 500s. But while the team won the owner’s championship in 1963, it still has yet to win a driver’s championship -- though that is partially attributed to the team only competing in select races for many years, choosing instead to focus on bigger events.
Now, Blaney is positioned to deliver the team its first driver’s title, surprisingly advancing to the semifinal playoff round. The 23 year old earned his spot by finishing third in the Round 2 elimination race last week at Kansas Speedway despite starting 40th due to his car failing technical inspection after qualifying.
How Blaney made his way to the front, exercising patience to gradually go forward, reminded the Wood Brothers of someone else that used to drive the iconic No. 21 car -- NASCAR Hall of Famer David Pearson.
“Starting into that race and you’ve got to start 40th, that requires patience and a lot of thought and a lot of awareness about what’s going on,” Wood said. “Those qualities [were] one of David Pearson’s greatest assets. ... Just the way that things flowed in that race remind me a lot of the race that David ran and I think he’s headed in that direction for sure.”
That high praise Blaney blanched at, saying he in no way deserves to be compared to Pearson, whose 105 premier division wins are second only to Richard Petty’s 200 wins. Blaney is regarded as one of NASCAR’s rising stars and in his second full year in Cup, he had a breakout season, scoring his first career win at Pocono Raceway in June and making the 16-driver playoffs.
“I didn’t really have any expectations for this year,” Blaney said. “I think everyone on the team just wanted to go out and do our best and do what we could to our full capability of how we can do things and whatever happens happens, whether that’s winning a race or however far we go in the rounds.
“We just kind of take it week to week. We go do our best and the rest will work itself out.”
If Blaney is to continue his championship pursuit, he will need a stellar performance throughout the three-race semifinals. The Toyota-powered teams of Furniture Row Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing have dominated the playoffs, seemingly putting the Ford-backed Wood Brothers at a disadvantage.
Nonetheless, Blaney and the Wood Brothers are enjoying the position they find themselves. Few expected the team to get this far in the playoffs. And that Blaney has just four races left driving the No. 21 car before leaving to join Team Penske full-time next season has all involved soaking up the experience of competing for a championship.
“I don’t really want to chalk it up as a successful or unsuccessful season yet, and we’ll kind of see how we go, but it’s been a lot of fun,” Blaney said. “It’s probably the most fun I’ve ever had racing this whole year, no matter what happens, but hopefully we can keep going the next month or so.”
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