1998–2005: Early career and team instability Blaney began his
Busch Series career in 1998 with
Bill Davis Racing, driving the No. 93
Amoco Pontiac and in his first season had three sixth-place finishes and a pole position at
Lowe's Motor Speedway. The following season, he ran a full-time schedule and won four poles and ended the season a career-best seventh in points. That season, he returned to the
Winston Cup series with Davis, earning a best finish of 23rd at
Homestead in the No. 93. In 2000, Blaney and his Amoco team moved up to
Winston Cup full-time and posted two top-tens, but DNQ’d in the second race of the season at Rockingham. He finished third in the
NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year award standings for the season. He returned to the
Busch Series that year with a limited schedule in BDR's No. 20
AT&T Pontiac, gaining a pole position at
Charlotte and also finish third twice. In 2001, the team would switch to Dodge and he would compete in all the races with a best finish of sixth three different times during the season. He left Davis at the end of the season due to sponsorship concerns and signed with the No. 77
Jasper Motorsports team. His best finish during the 2002 season was seventh at
Phoenix. Blaney started the 2003 season with three top-tens and a pole the first five races, including a third-place finish at Darlington, but fell to 28th in points at the end of the season, resulting in his release. Blaney returned to Bill Davis Racing in 2004 for a limited schedule, due to a lack of a sponsorship. Part of his deal was making his Craftsman Truck Series debut for the team in the No. 23 at Dover, where he finished sixth. After two eleventh place finishes, Blaney joined
Richard Childress Racing, taking over the No. 30
AOL-sponsored Chevrolet for eight races. After two top-fifteen finishes, he was replaced by
Jeff Burton and started one race for
Roush Racing in the No. 99
Canteen Vending/
Kraft Foods Ford in the place of rookie
Carl Edwards, who missed the start due a Craftsman Truck Series race that ran late. Blaney exited the car on lap 24, and Edwards went on to finish 37th after a crash. He also ran the spring race at
Richmond International Raceway in the No. 7
Dodge for
Ultra Motorsports and finished fortieth. Blaney returned to
Richard Childress Racing in 2005 to drive the No. 07
Jack Daniel's Chevrolet. During the season he would post only two top-ten finishes and finished a dismal 26th in points.
2006–2008: Second Bill Davis Racing stint In 2006, he returned to the
Bill Davis Racing stable to run the No. 22
Caterpillar Dodge. His best finish in 2006 came at the
Richmond International Raceway, where he finished fourth. He also scored his first Busch Series victory at
Lowes Motor Speedway, when
Matt Kenseth spun on the last lap and Blaney was in the lead. In 2007, BDR switched to
Toyota, which had just entered the Cup Series. Blaney almost won the season-opening Busch Series race at
Daytona, finishing second to
Kevin Harvick. In the Cup Series, Blaney failed to qualify for three races, but got Toyota its first Cup Series pole at Loudon, and finished 31st in points. In 2008, with the
Car of Tomorrow being raced full-time, Blaney had two top-tens and moved up to thirtieth in points.
2009–2010: Loss of ride, start-and-park teams in 2010 Bill Davis Racing shut down before the 2009 season, leaving Blaney without a ride. In 2009, Blaney signed to run the
start and park No. 66
Prism Motorsports Toyota for a full season, getting a best finish of 28th at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Incidentally, Blaney did not qualify for three out of the four races that he had sponsorship for (Hyde Park was on the car at Las Vegas, and the Denny Hamlin Foundation at Charlotte and Texas). With the team continuing to start and park during the 2010 season, Blaney has a best finish of 29th at Las Vegas and led three laps the previous week at Fontana, he has parked his car prior to completion in all but one race this season. For the race at Phoenix, Blaney piloted the No. 55 Prism Toyota, with teammate Michael McDowell driving the No. 66 in an attempt to get both teams in the top-35 in owners points according to team owner
Phil Parsons. For the remainder of the 2010 Sprint Cup season, Blaney split his time between Front Row Motorsports and Tommy Baldwin Racing. Compared to Prism, both teams had some degree of sponsorship; Front Row Motorsports ran full races while Tommy Baldwin Racing was an occasional start and park entry. For example, Blaney ran the entire race at Loudon in the No. 36 with only associate sponsorship from Connecticut-based construction company Mohawk Northeast (owned by Alan Heinke, part owner of TBR) while parking an unsponsored TBR entry at Talladega after twelve laps.
2011–2013: Career recovery with Tommy Baldwin For the 2011 season, Blaney joined Tommy Baldwin Racing for the full season, with the team now committed to running full races. At the
2011 Daytona 500, Blaney received last minute sponsorship from
Golden Corral. He led three laps and finished 26th after a late race accident. Blaney piloted the No. 36 Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet with backing from Accell Construction Inc. in several races during the season. Golden Corral returned at the
2011 Aaron's 499, and Blaney led 21 laps but was spun out by
Kurt Busch with three laps to go and finished 27th. He led the second most laps behind
Clint Bowyer. On April 27,
Tommy Baldwin Racing announced that Blaney and the No. 36 team would be sponsored by
Golden Corral for 19 races and Big Red / All Sport for five races leaving only three races without a sponsor. The team did not run the Sprint All-Star Race in May in order to focus on the points-paying events. Blaney finished third at Talladega in the fall, which was the best finish for Tommy Baldwin Racing and tied for his best career finish. Golden Corral returned for three races in 2012, with Ollie's Bargain Outlet, Accell Construction and TMOne sponsoring other races. During the
2012 Daytona 500, Blaney led after 160 laps. During a caution, shortly after race leaders had made pit stops,
Juan Pablo Montoya crashed into a jet dryer, which was being used to blow debris from the track. As a result of the crash, the jet fuel that powered the helicopter engine spilled out onto the track and was ignited. NASCAR put the race under a red flag, at which point Blaney had the lead. Blaney finished fifteenth after a crash on lap 196. . Blaney returned to Tommy Baldwin Racing for the
2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, moving to the new No. 7 Chevrolet; he also signed with
Brad Keselowski Racing to drive their No. 19 in the
Camping World Truck Series at the series'
inaugural visit to
Eldora Speedway, which he drove to a ninth-place finish. With Blaney's son
Ryan's career having reached a level in which it no longer needed family funding, he went into semi-retirement after 2013. His last race with TBR was the season finale at Homestead. He was replaced at TBR by rookie
Michael Annett. Blaney was credited with being a major part of building TBR into a legitimate Cup-level organization.
2014: Semi-retirement In January 2014, it was announced that Blaney would be driving the No. 77 Ford for
Randy Humphrey Racing during several 2014 races. However, during practice for the
Daytona 500, Blaney's car was caught up in a wreck. The team attempted to purchase a backup car from another team, but was unable to, and was forced to rescind their entry. The team was on the entry list for the
Auto Club 400, but the team withdrew the Tuesday before the race. The team was again on the entry list for the
STP 500 at
Martinsville Speedway, but withdrew before practice. After failing to qualify in their first four races, the No. 77 team qualified for the first time in 2014 at the
Duck Commander 500. At the season's midway point, Humphrey's team suspended operations. At the August race at Pocono, Blaney returned to TBR for the first time, driving a third car for the team he helped build. He finished 26th in the race. Blaney returned to the car at Michigan later in the month. Blaney also drove the following week at
Bristol Motor Speedway, which turned out to be his final start. ==Motorsports career results==