NASCAR: Ryan Blaney Sets Sights On Breaking Record At Phoenix Raceway

Ryan Blaney is rolling into the NASCAR Cup Series Championship race on a winning streak. Yes, it’s a one-race winning streak but he finished second the week before at Homestead-Miami and the beat goes on with Blaney as the hottest driver in the Cup Series.

“I mean every one of us is going to say we feel great about our chances and we think we’re the best group, as they should, right? Everyone needs to be confident in their team,” Blaney said to Newsweek and other media. “Yeah, I can personally say about our group, I feel like we’ve been incredibly strong all year really. I mean, it doesn’t really show how great we’ve been really as a 12 team. It’s easy for me to see it, how they are operating. I feel like it has been just unbelievable.

“I think our 12 group is executing really, really well. We’re controlling things we can control to the best of our ability. That’s all I can really ask for. If it’s enough, that’s great. If it’s not, you’re going to come up short. All I can ever ask is just give everything you got. That’s all I ever ask of my guys. When they do that, they can be winners and win championships. Hopefully we bring that attitude.”

Blaney clinched the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series championship by finishing second at Phoenix in the fall race. Blaney has eight-straight Top 10 finishes at Phoenix, he finished fifth in the spring 2024 race, and this success can be attributed to constantly learning from the previous race.

“There’s things you always are taking from previous events,” Blaney said “We’ve taken things that we learned last spring, last November, this spring, things we’ve learned through this year with this right side tire that we’ve run at other places. Yeah, you’re always, like, picking and choosing things that you think are going to work, that have been good for you, and you stay away from the things that maybe you tried and did that weren’t as good for you. You’re always constantly learning.”

On Sunday, Blaney will try to defend his Cup Series championship and among his Championship 4 competitors is his teammate Joey Logano who won the 2022 Cup Series title. A Blaney or Logano championship would give Team Penske three-straight championships.

“I mean, yeah, obviously the difficult part could be if Joey and I are running 1-2 at the end of the race and we’re racing hard,” Blaney said. “That’s great if we’re 1-2, right? Overall that’s great. Roger’s (Team owner Roger Penske) always been the way of there’s no team orders, there’s no number one car, number two car, number three car. It’s just race each other as hard as you can. I don’t care who finishes first or second, as long as you finish first and second, right?”