Rookie Ryan Blaney is in for his first, and his team’s 91^st.

Ryan Blaney and the No. 21 Ford at MIS/Dave Marr photo

Blaney on Friday drove the No. 21 Woods Brothers Ford to the fifth qualifying position for the Quicken Loans 400 that will be at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday.

Blaney, whose top qualifying lap was 35.811 seconds at the 2-mile track, will make his first NASCAR Sprint Cup start at the track.

Meanwhile, Wood Brothers will have a car in an MIS Sprint Cup race for the 91^st time in 92 races, including 86 events in a row.

Rain was forecast, and teams practiced in the morning in qualifying setups, because they expected qualifying to be rained out, in which case lap times from practice would have set the race field.

If qualifying had been canceled, the No. 21 would have been left out of the race because it hadn’t made enough qualifying attempts this season.

“Luckily, it cleared out for us,” Blaney, 21, said. “It would have stung a little bit, knowing how good a car we have.”

Kasey Kahne (No. 5 Chevrolet) won the pole position with a lap time of 35.645.  Kevin Harvick (No. 4 Chevrolet) was second at 35.712

“Our chances of winning Sunday are as good as anybody,” Blaney said. “The guys we have go into each weekend … thinking we can win the race. That’s the mindset you have to have.”

Trevor Bay^th and 41^st.

ne drove the No. 21 in both MIS races in 2014. He finished 19

RYAN BLANEY

Wood Brothers Racing has had veteran NASCAR drivers like Ricky Rudd, Ken Schrader and Bill Elliott behind the wheel of the No. 21 Ford in the last decade or so.

More recently, the team has gone with developing drivers.

Ryan Blaney, 20, has signed to run the Wood Brothers' partial Sprint Cup schedule in 2015.

He follows Trevor Bayne, who was 20 when he took over as driver of the 21 in 2011. Bayne, who won the Daytona 500 in 2011, is to run the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford next year.

"Youth seems to be what it is all about," team co-owner Eddie Wood said at Michigan International Speedway on Friday. "We had really good results and relationship with Trevor, and I can see the same thing with Ryan."

Blaney's father, Dave, is a part-time Sprint Cup driver.

"I have known Ryan's dad since he came into the sport and it is a really grounded family," Wood said. "It is a racing family, as we are.

"I have grandkids now, and kids are the coolest thing."
Blaney leads the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series points heading into Saturday's race at MIS.