ALLENTOWN – NASCAR driver Ryan Blaney made a pit stop to the Lehigh Valley Wednesday on the way to his next race Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway.

Blaney drives the No. 12 Ford Mustang for Penske Racing in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and stopped by the Lehigh Valley Health Network campuses at 17th Street and Cedar Crest Boulevard.

The 17th Street hospital lies across from the Allentown Fairgrounds and features the Fleming Memory Center, which has a big focus on individuals dealing with memory impairment and other diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer’s.

“It was really great,” Blaney said of the Memory Center. “It was nice to meet the nurses and doctors and the head research people of what all they’re doing to try to help this out.

“I thought it was great not only to learn about the research they’re putting in and the help they’re getting, but the amount of time it seems like they’re putting in of training volunteers and family members who are caring for people with the disease.”

Blaney established the Ryan Blaney Family Foundation last year with a major focus on Alzheimer’s disease. The 25-year-old driver lost his grandfather and former racer Lou to the disease in 2009.

“It’s something we’ve talked about for a couple years,” Blaney said about the foundation. “Well, my family always wanted to tie in when my grandfather got sick and passed away. As I got older, you start talking about it.

“Finally, you pull the trigger on something like that. It’s been in the works for six months; it’s just a matter of it’s been out there for two or three months because it takes a lot of work trying to get everything into play.”

Wednesday’s event at the Lehigh Valley hospitals was in advance of July’s second NASCAR weekend at Pocono Raceway — the Gander RV 400, which will be held July 28.

Pocono Raceway CEO Nick Igdalsky also made the trip to Allentown and talked about how the first race went and how he’s looking forward to next month’s race.

“We’ve seen a growth the last couple of years and we saw that growth leading up to the June event as well,” Igdalsky said. “All the amenities we’ve added for the fans are being tremendously received, whether it is the carnival rides or the Pocono Mountain Bureau Welcome and Activity Center. The community-based initiatives that we’ve been putting in have really seemed to resonate with our families over the last couple of years.”

SPREADING ALZHEIMER AWARENESS … This weekend at Chicagoland Speedway, Blaney will be driving a special No. 12 car to help raise Alzheimer awareness, as 160 names affected by the disease will appear on the deck lid of his Penske Racing Mustang.

NO STRANGER TO POCONO … Blaney knows Pocono Raceway’s victory lane very well. Blaney won a NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series race at the 2.5-mile track back in 2013 before scoring his first Cup win at the Tricky Triangle in June 2017 for the legendary Wood Brothers Racing.

NEW THINGS COMING? ... Igdalsky hoped June’s race had a better on-track product and teased a possible idea for the July race. “The only thing in June, obviously the race product with the new package wasn’t what everybody had hoped for, but we are looking at options for ways to enhance competition for July,” Igdalsky said.