It seems like a throwback to the 2023 season. Discussing a tremendous win at Martinsville by Ryan Blaney, after a second place at Homestead-Miami. He was favored going into Phoenix last year and should be your pick for a championship in 2024.
In 2023, Blaney wasn’t the favorite for the title until his clutch win at Talladega. He was only locked into the playoffs because of his win at the 2023 Coke 600. Before Talladega, he had eight finishes outside the top twenty. All that changed for the #12 team. He narrowly got around Kevin Harvick, winning by .012 seconds, almost prophetic.
Following the win, he went on a tear, finishing 12th at the Roval, sixth at Vegas, and second at Homestead. It was all momentum building up to his walk-off win at Martinsville in ’23. He dueled with Ross Chastain for the win in 2023, finishing second but it got him the championship.
In 2024, Blaney has been a worthy opponent and champion. He secured two wins before the playoffs, Iowa and Pocono. Putting up a incredibly respectable and a superstar drive.
Lowest of Lows to Highest of Highs for Blaney:
Blaney was visibly dejected after Tyler Reddick drove around his outside at Miami two weeks ago. Blaney called it an ‘obvious disappointment’ on pit road after the race. He continued,
Yeah, I mean, it will suck for the night, then we’ll look forward to Martinsville tomorrow morning. We try to forget things quick. I’ve tried to do that more and more as I’ve gotten older, move on to the next thing, good, bad or indifferent, focus on the task. This team will do it.
Yeah, I can’t say how proud I am of them coming in and understanding what we needed to do. Just a shame it didn’t work out.
Yeah, we had good fortune at Martinsville last year. Hopefully we can bring the same kind of speed and be in contention to win.
History would repeat from 2023 to 2024. A second at Homestead would lead to a dominant, walk-off win at Martinsville. He had pace all day, did not lead as many laps as his competition, only 31 laps, but he lead the one that mattered, the last one.
Yeah, I was lucky as a kid to watch Dad — me grow up as a kid watching Dad do this. It’s a pretty unique thing as a kid to watch your parent do. That’s all I wanted to do. I just wanted to do what my dad did. Was really lucky that I got a chance to do what my dad did.
He taught me everything that I know. He still comes today. He was here with my mother, my uncle Dale, his brother. It’s always nice to have them around. His support for me has been the only reason I’m here, right?
In the post-race press conference, Blaney had many to thank for the performance he had. His team, his parents. His father Dave Blaney, announced his retirement from Sprint Car racing and has been a leading voice for Ryan in title pursuits. Blaney commented on the topic of modern Cup Champions and the influence their fathers have had, citing Chase Elliott and his father Bill. Blaney said;
NASCAR has become such a legacy sport with Bill and Chase, drivers and their dads. How much of the lessons have you learned from your dad in preparing a win like this?
Yeah, I was lucky as a kid to watch Dad — me growing up as a kid watching Dad do this. It’s a pretty unique thing as a kid to watch your parent do. That’s all I wanted to do. I just wanted to do what my dad did. Was really lucky that I got a chance to do what my dad did. He taught me everything that I know. He still comes today. He was here with my mother, my uncle Dale, his brother. It’s always nice to have them around. His support for me has been the only reason I’m here, right?
Brad Keselowski was also thanked, his Truck Series team developed some of our playoff contenders this year, Reddick, Cindric, and Blaney.
Yeah, I mean, I think it just shows Brad’s program there. There’s been a lot of great, great drivers that have come through that. I was really fortunate to be part of it. Between myself, Tyler Reddick, Ross Chastain, Daniel Hemric, Austin Cindric was part of that. There’s pedigree over there. BKR was amazing. I owe Brad a lot. He gave me my first chance in NASCAR with BKR and Team Penske.
Yeah, it’s just neat to kind of have that connection.
No, I never would have thought it back then. It’s funny, I ran for his Truck team in 13 and 14. It’s 10 years now that we were over there, and now we’re here.
Ryan has had incredible mentors throughout his two championship seasons, and it has placed him in a position to become a two-time champion.
Blaney’s Dominance at Phoenix:
While he has had incredible mentors, an almost perfect mirror to his 2023 round of eight performance. His races at Phoenix Raceway have been constant throughout his career. 8 top fives, 3 pole positions, and 431 laps led. We expected dominance from him in 2023, and certainly other drivers played spoil to his speed. But when the checkered flag flew, we crowned Blaney as a champion.
This year, Team Penske has two drivers in the Champ 4, Logano and Blaney. Logano has had issues in tech on Saturday, and has not been as dominant in years past. He has gotten pretty lucky in 2024, a fuel mileage win in Nashville, got one up on Daniel Suarez in Atlanta, and another fuel mileage win at Vegas.
NASCAR fans are hoping for a true champion. With the controversies at Martinsville, they are looking for a champion who had a solid pre-season, and an incredible post season. Blaney is that driver. While he has some ground to make up, qualifying 17th, a quote from Blaney in Martinsville rings true to me.
You being in a must-win situation, this was the focus. Jonathan said you did about 20% of work for Phoenix. Sounds like there might be long nights before you head out to Phoenix.
Those guys are built on long nights. They’re ready. They’ll be down for it. They’re ready to go. Yeah, I mean, same way last year. It turned out pretty good for us. See if we can do it again.
